A happy milestone

As of yesterday, I am 12 weeks pregnant! Hooray! Brian and I are very pleased to have made it through the first trimester. I am still sick and tired, but I'm hoping that will begin to fade soon. It is such a relief to know our little one has made through those crucial formative weeks. In honor of this momentous occasion, we've decided to share our names. We chose them for their meanings.

If it's a boy:

Iain Zechariah Douglas

It means "The Lord is gracious, he has remembered me"

For a girl:

Sophia Joie Douglas

"The Lord's wisdom brings joy"

We're so very excited!! Any thoughts on the sex of the baby? Both Brian and I kinda think it is a girl (which is a guess based on nothing but facts and logic, but I can't reveal my secrets--ha ha). But my Mom thinks it is a girl too, and she has a perfect track record of always being wrong. Care to offer your speculations?

Hurricane Wilma Pictures

Here's our house:





This was the view from our back door:



Here's the back yard:



And here's me doing laundry sans power. My back was sore the next day! Who needs to go to the gym? Just get rid of all your appliances.



This is Brian's parents' roof!



Here are some "around town" shots:





We were very thankful we had no damage since we don't have windstorm coverage. (It is CRAZY expensive.) The Lord was very merciful. I was also thankful that P-nut, aka Trouble, aka Precious Baby was safe in Mommy's belly and not in a freezer somewhere dependant on a generator for life.

Blessed and Blessed

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope for His lovingkindness,
To deliver their soul from death
And to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart rejoices in Him,
Because we trust in His holy name.
Let Your lovingkindness O Lord, be upon us,
According as we have hoped in You.
Psalm 33:18-22


The Lord was so very kind to us this week. Last Wednesday I started to bleed and had to leave work. The doctor put me on bed rest for two days, and I was able to get appointment with my OB on Monday. I spent the weekend quietly at home, waiting for the appointment. We went to the doctor and we delighted and so thankful when the Dr. found the heartbeat. Praisee God from whom all blessings flow. That was very scary and we are so thankful we didn't lose our last little one. Thank you all for your continued prayers for Baby.

I'm due on the 6th of June. It seems far away now, but the first trimester is almost over already and now the holidays are coming so I'm sure it will come quickly. My clothes are already starting to get tight! Is that normal?

Well, I will post the sonogram pictures and the hurricane pictures soon. I promise! Life has just been a bit crazy lately.

The Twelve Days of Wilma!

We got power back Saturday night after 12 days of darkness! We were so happy!!! Unfortunately, there are still people without power-- including Brian's parents. This storm has been quite a disruption, but thankfully no major damage occured to any of our family or the seminary. We have been very blessed. I will post some pictures soon-- there is much to tell! We had a great vacation, rode out a hurricane, and had two sonograms. More updates will come soon, but I wanted to let you all know that I am still alive!

The Unity of the Body of Christ

Brian and I attended Allan and Christine's Church (Covenant Pres. of Nashville) this past Sunday and during the prayer request time in Sunday School someone remembered First Pres of Gulfport, MS and prayed for Guy Richard by name. I thought that was so neat. It gave me an overwhelming sense of he universality of Christ's church. Also, one of the pastor's there is Stuart Latimer Jr, who is the son of my pastor's wife's old pastor. As if that sentence made any sense. :) It was cool to exchange greetings with him. He is an excellent teacher, by the way. Very much in sync with what Dr. Gage has done with typology, oddly enough. So we promised to send him a copy of the new Joseph and Judah book.

We've been having a blast this week. I will post more (and hopefully pictures!) when we get back.

Also, I've been feeling pretty nausated the past three days-- looks like I'm not going to get out of morning sickness after all. Should be a long car ride home. :} That's a sickly smile, in case you were wondering. It's been a grea trip and we have lots to tell, but that will have to keep!

Blessed in more ways than one

I realized as a sat in class tonight how much I owe to Dr. Gage. We covered a lot of ground tonight, but one of the central themes of tonight OT class was the heavenly promises of God. His most valuable gifts are the spiritual ones. We are sojourners looking for a heavenly kingdom and eternal fulfillment, not earthly shadows that quickly pass away. And so much of what was said was familiar because we covered much of the same material in last spring's OT Theology, but in greater detail then. As Dr. Gage spoke my soul resonated with agreement. Yes, yes, YES! So much of this I know by experience. So much of this the Lord sustained me with in my time of trial.

And then I realized how gracious God had been to me. Dr. Gage was the one who spoke of those heavenly hopes every week. He was the one that provided the material that bolstered my soul. He gave me the framework to read God' promises and look for more than instant gratification. How much of the meditations on this blog are a result of his work? I don't know. But I am grateful to God for sending me that teaching from His word when I needed it most.


In other news, I had to go back for my second pregnancy test today. I was delighted to discover that I am indeed still pregnant and the HCG is doubling every day just as it should. I am so thankful. I still can't get over God's physical blessing to me. He had me looking so hard for the spiritual seed that I didn't think He intended to give me an earthly one. I've learned so much from sorrow, can I learn as much through joy?

I have to go back on Wednesday for one more test. (Brian swears they are milking us, and I myself am not sure why this is necessary, but it something that they do to everyone. And it is nice to have the confirmation that the baby is there. I feel so normal that it all seems like a dream.) After that, we are heading to Tennessee on Friday to see Brian's brother, Allan, and his wife, Christine. I'm really looking forward to that. It has been quite a while since we've seen them and it is a great time to take a vacation. Hopefully I'll find the time to catch up on some class reading! I've been so distracted by the events in my personal life lately. After we get back from TN, we go for our first ultrasound! I'm so excited. Then we'll see how many the Lord has blessed us with.

Well, here's a another excited post all wrapped up! :)

Poodles in Hell

This is just too funny not to share...

I was eating lunch with my pastor and his wife, Robin, yesterday and the conversation turned to a newspaper column that they had read recently. Someone had written and asked the pastor of a local megachurch if pets go to heaven when they die. He said that they did. Robin nearly had a fit. "I had two poodles" she said. "One was good and one was bad. And let me tell you, if anyone is going to hell, Pierre is!"

I thought I'd die laughing.

And in case you're wondering, I don't believe in any sort of afterlife for animals. :)