Certifiable

Well, not that kind of certifiable, but I am now certified for pregnancy Medicaid. This is a huge blessing for us. We do have individual insurance coverage, but no individual plans offer coverage for maternity. You can only get that through a group. So, this pregnancy was going to have to be completely out of pocket on our part. With some help from the hospital business office, we were put in touch with the Texas Dept. of Health and now are covered by Medicaid. This came at a great time because our very expensive "big" sonogram is coming up on Monday. Whew!

Anyway, that's what's happening with us today. My mom is coming this weekend and is going to be helping us paint and put together Will's new big boy room. She is bringing the old twin bed that my brother and I used as kids for him. So exciting! She is also bringing him an outdoor play structure that you can climb on and slide down. He will love that because he is really into playing outside lately. Now we just have to be really diligent about picking up doggy doo.

Have a great weekend :)

Beth Moore Live! (Via Satellite) :)

I was asked by a friend to post about the Beth Moore simulcast I went to today. It was, of course, awesome. They said that they were reaching around 100-150,000 people today, which is pretty amazing. Over 500 different places were doing simulcasts. It was a blessing to be a part of it.

The worship leader was really good; I thought he would have done really well on Broadway. He had one of those Broadway-type voices--big, beautiful, lots of verbratto, able to hold really long notes, etc. His name is Travis Cottrell. The rest of the worship team was excellent, too. They sang a lot of songs I didn't know, but I did know a few or was able to catch on.

I went by myself, so at first I sat by myself. At our site, there were only about 70 people (quick background--the First Baptist Church in our area recently went through a pretty devastating split; they lost about 250 members, including their pastor, youth minister, and two other staff members. So, attendance was low, I think because of this) so it was pretty obvious I was by myself. A teacher from the high school where I used to work had me come and sit with her, so that was nice; I didn't have to sit alone. The only bad part about today was that the wind here was HORRIBLE (with gusts up to 62 mph). I had to put that in all caps and bold so I could really convey how bad it was. The sky was brown. Even if you closed your mouth when walking outside, you still got dirt in it. This is how bad it was. Anyway, because of the wind, the satellite feed wasn't so good. At one point, right after Beth got up to speak, the lights went out and the feed went completely off. Thankfully, she was still doing intro-type stuff. After lunch (which I'm sure everyone fervently prayed during lunch for God to calm the winds), the feed was much better and hardly acted up at all. Yea!

Beth Moore is just an incredible speaker. She can make you laugh (for those of you who know about her "hair ministry," she did quite a lot of that at the beginning), she can make you feel like she is speaking directly to you and about you, and she can definitely make you shed tears, whether of joy, appreciation, heartache, or pain. It was a really great experience for me. She was teaching on deliverance and letting God deliver us out of our respective "pits." I'm sure her book is awesome (titled "Get Out of That Pit"), and I hope to get it, maybe when it comes out in paperback or I can get it used. I just don't have the bucks to spend on it right now, but I would really love to read it someday. Today's simulcast made me really want to go and hear her speak live; God really can use this woman to speak to people--it's really just awesome. I recommend you go and see her if you ever get the chance, or go to a simulcast. I think you would really enjoy it.

As for the rest of our day, it was great, even though the weather was quite hellish! Will spent the better part of the day with one of his former Bible-class teachers and had a good time. Scott was busy getting ready for a scavenger hunt with the youth tonight. The hunt ended up at a restaurant where we met him for dinner with the kids. It was fun even though we didn't get our food until after 8:15! I feel like I just got home even though I've been home for almost an hour now. I hope everyone else's Saturday was as blessed as mine has been. Have a good Sunday!

16 Week Baby Update

Well, in less than a month we will (hopefully) find out whether the newest addition to our family is a boy or a girl. I went to the doctor today for my monthly check-up and everything seems to be going just fine. We heard the baby's heartbeat and I had my triple-screen blood test. All in all, not a too exciting appointment, but next month's will be.

In other baby news, I am about 99% positive I have felt the baby move. It feels just the same as when I first felt Will move, so it just has to be. Even though it's early, I think I am feeling it just because I know what to "look" for. It's pretty cool!

Not much else is happening. We are getting ready to head out on Thursday and as soon as I get back next week, I will be thrust into the fire at work because it will be Valentine's Day! It is always super-crazy, so it should be interesting when I get back. Tonight I am going to have a girls' night with Harmony and some other friends of ours. Harmony's family is out of town, so she is having a little get-together at her place. It should be fun. I'm looking forward to it. Tomorrow, I get my hair cut. That's always fun. I really just like it because they wash your hair and it feels so good :)

I'm not sure that I will post again until after I get back from Florida, so everyone have a safe and happy weekend and Happy Valentine's Day :)

Books and Such

Well, I did it. I got up and got to work semi-on-time this morning. A great feat for me. I am so sleepy now, but at least I woke up and got ready! I am really going to have to train myself to go to bed earlier. But, the good thing about working in the morning is that I can do my Internet stuff in the afternoon instead of after Will goes to bed at night. That should really help.

Also, I finally finished my mammoth of a book last night, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, by Diana Gabaldon. I think I've talked about this series before, but really...if you love a great story-teller, nail-biting adventures, love, mystery, and really thick books...this series is for you. This book is the most recent in the series (6 total)--the Outlander series. If you love to read, you should really check these out. The genre is hard to place, even the author doesn't really even know what it is. I found one of the books in the science-fiction section of the library, but I wouldn't call it that. Some say it's fantasy, others say it's romance. But the author just likes the simple "fiction" genre. You may find it in any one of these sections of your bookstore :) So, there's my little sales pitch--ha!

As for other news, Scott and I are going on a retreat this weekend to Ruidoso. It was supposed to be a youth retreat (we are joining forces with a few other churches), but our one kid who signed up has backed out. But Scott is a cell-group leader, etc, so he still has to go. So, we're going with him as moral support, I guess :) It may be a nice little getaway--although it will be quite cold there, I imagine!

Well, I suppose that's I all I have for today. Y'all have a great Thursday and weekend if I don't get around to it tomorrow!

Why I Love Thursday

I love Thursdays. Not because anything particularly wonderful happens, but because it is a great line-up of comedy on NBC. You get My Name is Earl, The Office, Scrubs, and 30 Rock all in one night! It's amazing! If none of those shows make you laugh, there really might be something seriously wrong with you. But we can still be friends. Of them all, though, I have to say I look forward to 30 Rock the most. I love Tina Fey. She is hilarious. I so miss her on SNL, but her creating and being on 30 Rock is worth it. And Alec Baldwin, although I don't really like him "in real life," is just a riot. If you haven't watched this yet, you should. It's really for your own good. :)

Anyway...back to the real world. Not much is happening here other than it is supposed to get nasty here again tomorrow. I am so cold! I think my toes might fall off if I take off my shoes!

Happy Thursday to everyone and have a great, safe, warm weekend if I don't get around to posting tomorrow. (Aren't you all proud of me??? Three days in a row!!!)

Wednesday Report

I would like to thank everyone for their congratulatory comments on our new bun in the oven :) We are so excited and we are so thankful for all your prayers and well wishes. It seems like now that I have announced this, so many other people are turning up pregnant, too! Congrats to all my fellow expectant-mom blogging buddies out there! We will have to compare stories.

Today we woke up to a beautiful, peaceful white blanket of snow. I think this snowfall was a little heavier than the snowfall we had in November. It was colder and and the sun didn't come out til much later, so it stuck around longer, too. Scott was supposed to go to school at ACU today (his first day of class), but we didn't want him to risk driving there and back, so he called his professor and said that he would not be coming. ACU had already delayed their first day of the spring semester by one day. When Scott got off the phone with ACU, we got an interesting phone call from the LCU Alumni Relations office. The main A.R. lady went to camp with Scott back in the day. She was calling to tell us that there was an LCU student who was stranded in Big Spring because of the weather. This student had taken a bus to get back to Lubbock and ended up in a motel in Big Spring last night and didn't have enough money for another night's stay. Would we take her in? Of course, we said. So we have spent the day getting to know Sarah, a senior psychology major. She had started her travels last Thursday from Wisconsin and got stuck for 3 days in Dallas--sleeping in the Greyhound station--and finally ended up here. At first, we thought she might not get back to Lubbock til tomorrow (Thursday), but there is a bus running at midnight tonight. I hope that she gets back home safely and can finally relax. What an experience!!

Speaking of good ol' LCU, we are planning on attending the festivities during Master Follies weekend. This year is our five year reunion, so we are planning on attending that function, club breakfasts, chapel, the afternoon show, and a couple of receptions for past big time award winners like Scott (that's sort of a joke--Scott was Mr. LCU and recieved a special award from the Bible Dept. his senior year). Anywho, we look forward to seeing all of our friends in February!

I really can't think of anything else to report right now, so I'm signing off. Have a great Thursday :)