I want to go to China.

Sam and I are watching a documentary all about China. What an incredibly interestin place with incredibly interesting people. Hopefully one day God will allow our little family to travel there. Maybe even live there!

In other news, we're having a little baby girl! She is seemingly healthy and has, according to the u/s tech, very long legs. But she cant really help that, can she? We are so excited and I have to admit, all I ever want to do these days is shop for baby girl things. We've already bought two outfits and a bunch of hair bows haha. And yes, we do have a name temporarily picked out, but we are keeping it a secret, at least for now :).

Now that I've, for the most part, stopped getting sick everyday, I have slowly gotten back into the habit of eating more than crackers and Ginger ale. Sam joked today that he was glad to see that i was finally craving things, or rather, wanting the same things I always wanted before. No strange or strong cravings here. I mostly just LOVE fruit, especially if it comes blended up with yogurt. Yum! And I still eat approx 2.8 bowls of cereal every day. And occasionally have a hankering for a carton of ice cream. :). My awesome husband also surprised me this morning with a humongous bag of pistachios from Sam's club, and boy are they good.

Well, this blog has absolutely no substance, but I am too interested in the man talking about Chinese red pandas and special k red berries to devote too much of my brain power. At least now you know what sorts of things to bring when you come visit ;)

Kids (know best how to) Play

Today I got to spend the majority of the morning watching my kids jump and run and slide and smile at Kidz Play. I love going to Kidz Play because they really just let the kids go crazy. Within minutes, most kids have drenched themselves in sweat and spent every token on the skee ball machine, barely making it up the little ramp. Usually when we take kids there, I take advantage of the free admission and lack of supervision and slide and bounce and tumble right along with the kids. What can I say, I don't like missing out on all the fun, and it's a pretty darn good workout. Unfortunately, I didn't want to risk throwing up on the slides or shaking little baby up too much, so I confined myself to the outside, to merely watching the smiling, sweaty faces. It wasn't nearly as fun and time dragged on, but it was still worth it to know that 18 kids didn't stop smiling for 2 straight hours and I will admit, nap time was pretty relaxing ;). I love kids so much. When it comes to having fun, they seem to live by the motto "life's short, play hard". When we first got to Kidz Play, they ran around and played games and spent tickets like we were gonna make them leave any minute. I just love it. And now I'm tired and The Office is on, so that's where this post will end :)

I am what they call "too blessed to be stressed" :)

Did I mention how thankful I am??? Maybe it didn't seem like it in my last two posts, but I am incredibly thankful for every breath, every ache, every laugh, every thought, every flutter. I have such a loving, God-seeking husband that strives each day to serve me in humility and love and without him, I am certain I would fall to pieces. Together we have a sweet, obedient and cuddle-loving puppy that brings us hours of entertainment. I have the great honor and privilege of teaching and learning from a group of smart, funny, energetic, silly four and five year olds that constantly remind me what Christ meant when he challenged us to have faith like a child. I also am so blessed to have not one, but two jobs, both of which I love and with coworkers and management that encourage me to work hard and do the best I possibly can. I get to make coffee and smoothies twice a week with a friend and meet all kinds of crazy people along the way. My husband also has a job that allows him the freedom to drive me to and from work in a car that we no longer have to make payments on. Together we get to disciple, love on, learn from, and hang out with some really great youth and college people who hold us accountable and keep us on our toes. We have wonderful family both down the street and around the country who care for us and offer timely advice coupled with endless memories. And here in a few months, we will receive the gift and burden (and I truly mean that in a positive sense) of caring for, instructing, and discplining another human life. God-willing, and with His unending grace and wisdom, we will get to watch our child grow up as a true disciple. But more than all that, I serve a loving God who, in his justice and mercy, did the only thing He could do, sacrifice his one and only, perfect, son so that He could spend eternity with me and those around me who call on His name.

I am so blessed.

Scattered pieces of my consciousness

The words and sentences to follow are composed of the random, hormone-induced thoughts buzzing about my mind. Take caution.

I've always had very strange dreams, but these days my dreams have the power to determine the whole course of my day, much to my chagrin. Today was a depressing day, because I spent the bulk of my night wrapped up in horrific nightmares relating to baby banfield. Not how I had hoped this week would start out. Lord, capture my mind and transform my thoughts, waking and asleep.

Today my day to day pregnancy tracker thing told me how to deal with middle of the night hunger pangs. To which I would reply: hunger pangs?? What's that? I cant remember the last time I actually felt hungry! I suppose I should count my blessings and be glad that, at least for now, there is still food for Sam to eat ;)

I hope baby banfield is a good traveler because the moment God gives us the green light to go, we will be going. To where, I don't much care. I just want so badly to go to Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. There are something like 6,700 people groups who have never even heard the name of Jesus. That's where I want to go. (and plus, the sooner we tell these people, the sooner Jesus can come back ;)

I have learned so much about sex trafficking these past few days and the burden on my heart for young girls to be set free, literally and figuratively, is Ever-growing. One.of these days I will dedicate a whole post to those precious girls.

Until then, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.