First day of School!!!!!!!!

Haha, just typing the title made me laugh. Cara likes to watch Finding Nemo, and I always fast forward to chapter 3 or whatever when Nemo is waking up his Dad for his first day of school....the mom dying doesn't bother Cara, but it does me, so on we go... :)

Today is Eric's first day of school as a junior high head band director, in Katy ISD, opening a new school, and having only a part-time assistant!! I can't believe it. We've been up there every day for about 2 weeks helping him get everything ready. I think he'll do awesome. He has been SOOOO organized up there (which if you know him, that's not his strong suit, although that has been changing lately), and I bet he'll have fun. We were already having withdraws from him, so after going to the grocery store this morning, we took him some stuff to stock his fridge in his office during his lunch time. He was surprised to see us, and Cara just walked in like she owned the place. She has spent quite a few minutes there as of late. Right now she's napping and I'm about to go fold some more laundry. Happy first day of school to Amanda (eric's sister starting 9th grade---High School!!), Bailey, Mom, and all the other teachers/students out there.

Also, Happy 51st Darrell!! Today is my step-dad's birthday! :)

Choose Life!!

Ok, for those of my blog stalkers, I am fine. :) Cara went to the doctor, she has bronchitis for the 2nd time this month (but seems to be already over it). I felt better by Wednesday night, but still didn't feel 'right', so I went to the doctor on Friday morning. They did the NST test and everything was fine. I did have a bacterial infection, amongst other things, and so I'm on a couple of medicines, but I'm starting to feel like myself again. I am choosing to be happy and postive, because I've hit that point in my pregnancy where I'm mostly just uncomfortable and tired. Some nights are good (last night) and some nights I'm still waking up to pee every 2 hours. I know God only gives me what I can handle, so I'm going with it.

In other news, I've just finished my second Karen Kingsbury book. A friend of mine had mentioned that she liked her writing--she's a Christian fiction author. I read One Tuesday Morning a few weeks ago, because my mom had it sitting on her table. Oh, talk about a tear jerker! I think I posted on it earlier, but it is an amazing book. I'd recommend to all! I just finished the sequel, Beyond Tuesday Morning. Lordy Lordy!! It's amazing what/when/how God chooses to speak to you. I was mostly reading it for the story, and it's a little easy to tell what's going to happen (although you want it ALL to happen, so that's fun), but God really impressed upon me to choose life! It's one of the main themes in the last half of the book, an epiphany of the main character, but it hit me too. How many times do I get bogged down trying to be a 'good' mom, wife, housekeeper, accountant, friend, Christian, daughter, family member, that I forget to LIVE!! Today, I came home from church and looked at how disgustingly dirty my house was after being sick all week (and when feeling ok, being at Eric's school serving him and helping him get ready for tomorrow), and went crazy. I moved all the furniture, vacuumed the living room, put away CLEAN dishes from the dishwasher (probably sitting in there for 4-5 days), reloaded it, washed clothes, folded clothes. Finally I just wanted to stop and read the end of this book. I realized by doing all of this, I neglected Cara (I mean, not literally, she was fed, went pee pee on the potty, went down for her nap), but I wasn't the loving Mommy I enjoy being. I wasn't patient, kind, gentle....do you get where I'm going? I just went through the motions, I didn't choose to live life as I know God wants me to. This verse was in the book I just finished:

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (and the ones leading up to it)

"This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

I love it, and I hope to live it. I pray it over anyone who reads this blog, that it may encourage you to slow down and live life as God chose for you. Put away all the pressures, and focus on Him. Thanks for reading!

Sick

This has been an awful 8 hours. I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions for just a week or 2. They usually come after I eat, and don't hurt, just my tummy gets tight. Well last night was no different. But about 7pm, Cara and I were over at our neighbors letting the girls play for the first time in weeks, and I had one, well what I thought was one....but it hurt. We came home, and Eric took over bed time responsibilities as I tried to breathe, because I had a few more. I was a little scared, because I'm only 29 weeks. Then I realized, I don't think they're contractions, they're more like cramps. I took it easy all night, and went to bed early. From about 10-12:45 I slept fine. Micah was kicking a lot, but I'm ok with that. Then I got up to go to the restroom, and haven't been able to go back to sleep since. I keep sweating and then having the chills. I feel nauseous. I took my temp and it was 101 ish. Cara has been sleeping perfectly, thank the Lord, after having a little runny nose yesterday. So if you read this today, please pray for her tomorrow as Mommy will probably spend most of the time on the couch. I'm exhausted and wish I could sleep. In good news, I get to watch the replay of the women's balance beam event finals :).

Non Manic-Monday

Hi. I woke up today with an urge to not get up, but then I remembered how I promised God I would start trying to study His Word in the mornings, as we are told to do hundreds of times in scripture, instead of Cara's naptime or inthe evening. Cara had woken up around 6:45 (early for her), so I got up, laid her back down with her baby and paci, and got back in bed, right as Eric was getting up and getting ready. I laid there for a few minutes pretending to go back to sleep, but I could already feel God pulling me towards Him. So I finally got up, thinking I'd have maybe 20 minutes to myself before Cara got up for good. Eric was done getting ready and I decided to first finish my last day of Stepping Up, the Beth Moore study I had done all summer. I just couldn't finish up the last 2 days, so instead of rushing through them, I decided to save them for when I have some good time with me and God. What an amazing study that was. The videos were sooooo good and the 15 Psalms of Ascent we studied changed my life. I now recognize that I am on pilgrimage to meet my Father when this life on earth is done. It's not about the destination (although heaven is a great place to aspire to), it's about the person, Jesus Christ. And my personal relationship with Him. So I did the last day, wrote my prayer for others, and felt great.

But I wanted to start something for myself too. We just concluded an 82 (!) week study on the book of John by our pastor in church. It was amazing to be able to focus so greatly on such a small piece of scripture each week. I truly love the way our pastor preaches. And, we studied the whole book of Matthew (which of course we cross referenced Mark and Luke) in my ABF last fall. Since we're studying through the entire Old Testament this year in ABF (we're in 2nd Samuel already), I decided to read through the book of Acts on my own. I only read the first chapter today, but by reading that, the intro, and now knowing more than I knew previously about the gospels, I garnered a lot of truth from it. I have some Acts verses memorized, but I like where I am now, truly learning about when/why each book was written, and by who (Luke). It makes the scriptures I memorized in Bible Drill as a child have more meaning. Eric and I also started a 'together' prayer journal to help us 'guard our marriage' more. Josh Allen taught on David and Bethsheba Sunday in our ABF, and we mostly talked about ways to ward off temptation in our lives as married young adults. And of course, the differences between men and women. Did you know that the normal divorce rate in this country is 50%. The divorce rate among Christian couples is 50-51% (higher than the national average), but the divorce rate among couples who pray DAILY together is only 1 in 16,000!!! That's amazing. AND I think it's because of the communication and committment you must have to make it something that is required every single day of your lives together. So, to make a REALLY long story a little shorter, Cara slept until 7:55 this morning. I have almost 45 minutes of quiet time this morning, and man it felt like it flew by! God is so good, and I wanted to share that with you all.

I truly believe because I started my day this way, instead of saving it for later in the day, Cara and I had an amazing morning! She was so sweet natured (which is normal, but even more so today), we prayed together when I got her up, I sang 'This is the Day" from Psalm 118:24, which she is starting to sing along with, and we worked on her 1st bible verse she's memorized (it's taken about 5-6 weeks for her to memorize it). "God is my shepherd." Psalm 23 (yes, it's a very easy version, but I'm proud of my girl!). We spent a relaxing morning at home, then went to the brand new Michaels' that opened up in Katy and walked around. She's so cute in her stroller, "may I have some fishies please mommy," when asking for some goldfish. Then we went home, made lunch and took Daddy his lunch at school since he had a little break. She LOVES going to daddy's school, but we pass the mall on the way, so she talks about going to play the whole time, until she realizes where we are ending up. :) We came home and she took a good nap.

We spent the evening in the heights saying goodbye to my cousin Mandie and her family. She just accepted an awesome new position in Tampa, FL, so she's moving (Thursday). So many friends and famiy are moving away lately. We just shipped our good friends the Lyons off to Denver, now the Wilsons are moving to Columbus, OH and the Whites are probably moving to the Netherlands at the end of the year!! Well, it's almost 9:30 and I'm exhausted. Swimming and gymnastics are pretty much over, no more staying up late for me! Love to all!

New pictures and videos online

DSC06681
Originally uploaded by mistylnewsome.

Cara's already potty trained but I had to take pictures for the scrapbook, and I forgot until last week. I put all our August pictures and videos online today, so be sure to check them out.

Micah for the record

Went to the doctor today. His heartbeat was a strong 150. He actually kicked the doppler a couple times while they were listening, it is so fun now to see him move like that!! My blood pressure was 120/80. I asked my doctor if that is high, she says that's actually baseline, and that with Cara's pregnancy it went up a little in the end but it was nothing to worry about. So, that's good. I gained 1 pound, so I'm up a net 5 pounds this pregnancy! I had hoped to work out (not doing so hot at, besides lifting 34 pounds a hundred times a day) and eat healthy (doing much better at now that I'm cooking more like I used to before the nausea hit in the first trimester) and not gain any weight. My doctor and I agreed since I was overweight before the pregnancy, that it would be ok as long as I was eating healthy and not starving myself (which hello, if you've met me, you know that's never a problem), that I could gain no to little weight. Well, we have 11.5 weeks left, so we shall see. She said with Cara's pregnancy, between 28-30 weeks, I gained 10 pounds!!! However, I had a job and money back then and was eating out a lot at Ninfas and Schlotskys, and since that is not the case this time, I think we'll be fine. I love this baby already more than I knew was possible. I thought I'd feel more guilt over taking away from my LOVELY first child, but I think this baby is going to be an awesome part of our family. I am completely at peace with this pregnancy, and so far, with God's blessing, everything has gone smoothly!

I attended an amazing Freedom Conference at our church last night. It's something that our women's ministry puts on once a quarter and last night the topic was free to pray. We had speakers get up and talk about the sin of not praying, praying for your kids, the lost, your husband, with others, etc. It was amazing!!! These ladies had some great insite that was truly from the Lord. The conference usually lasts about 1-1.25 hours, but last night it was 2 hours and no one even noticed it!

I came home and Eric and I continued our talk. I told him everything I wrote down and we talked about what we could specifically pray for each other and our families. I felt such a peace when I woke up this morning, and started my day quoting God's Word and praying to Him; what a good way to end the day last night. You know, Satan can grab hold of you in many things. One lady pointed out last night all the 'false altars' in our life. Our kids, our hobbies, our husband, our homes. Not that these are bad things, but that you can truly 'worship' them instead of having your focus be on Jesus. I thought we were doing so good because we gave up cable (aka NO tv unless we have a netflix movie every few days), but then I realized we had just replaced it. Eric would sit on the computer next to me on the couch while I read various books. They were this cute series by this Christian author I found, but still, we weren't communicating, we weren't studying God's Word, we weren't praying like we used to together. So we made a decision last night to do it EVERY night. We don't have to talk for 2 hours, but have more than that superficial 'what do you have tomorrow, i have this.' God is drawing us close for a reason, and we are trying to make it not for just a season. I praise God and thank Him daily for the church He planted us in, for NewGround (our sunday school class), for our friends and family. We are truly blessed!! Love to all!

We miss you Michael!

Three years ago today, my family was mourning the loss of our beloved Michael Gamble! We are so thankful to have known him, and praise Jesus that he is up in heaven dancing with Him now! We will always miss you Mikey!

Please update!! :)

So I showed Eric our blog 2 nights ago and he laughed, but was like, could you update that? :) I think he doesn't want his picture to be the first thing you see. So I'm up (since 4:30) because my hips hurt and my nose is running, and I'm trying to figure out something to post. But you all know me, I don't need much to get me going so here goes......

The insurance is working out. I called Aetna about the prenatal doctors visits and they said everything should be covered, and that if I payed my copays (which I did), I shouldn't owe anymore when they close out the bill, that was a relief. I also finally got our Cobra papers (good thing you can sign up retroactively) and realized it's only $601.80, PLUS, that's for both of us, if we want to cover me, I can call and get a quote that should be cheaper for leaving Eric off. Now, I still need to call Katy's insurance (also Aetna) to find out if I HAVE to be covered in the month of August. Our plan (unless they say yes or you won't be covered) is to wait until something happens (I have until 9/29 to sign up retroactive back to 8/1) and then sign up. PLUS, we're looking into other maternity healthcare at this point, so it may be a mute point anyway!!

Cara is growing by leaps and bounds. I don't notice how tall she is until we're around other kids her age. A lot of my friends kids are 3 and 4, and she fits right in (and is taller than a lot of them), so when we hang around young 2s, she's a whole head taller than them! She has been a little cranky lately, I chalk it up to the sickness/being 2, but besides that, I just love this season! She is so smart, can tell us what she needs, LOVES to play with Mommy, Daddy, Riley & Gweny. LOVES to be outside (which can be a little annoying when 1. I'm pregnant and hot already and 2. the mosquitos LOVE us no matter what we do). It scares me a little about having a newborn again! :) I pray daily for this new baby and his sleep/eating patterns. And that they both get all the attention they need. Cara starts preschool on 9/2-going one day a week on Tuesdays at a local church. Mommy is looking forward to her learning all sorts of new things, and having a little time to myself to finish getting ready for Micah.

Speaking of Micah, he is a KICKER! It is so fun to watch my belly move, especially in the evening, when Cara's asleep and we're sitting on the couch relaxing, he's going to town. My tracker says I have 86 days left (give or take) and I can't believe how fast it's going now! It seemed to just drag on the first half of the pregnancy, but now, woo hoo!! I feel like I'm in better shape with this pregnancy (although I feel BIGGER). It's probably from lifting a 34 pound toddler numerous times throughout the day, I'm not doing a whole lot of 'exercising' like I had planned, but chasing her and lifting her is definitely helping.

Eric has been back at school all week, and MAN does he (and I!) love his new commute time of 8 or so minutes (versus an hour!). Monday and Tuesday they were without power (not because of the storm, but because the school is still working out the kinks!!!!!, did I mention it's supposed to open next Monday 8/11!). Even with the power out, it was 50 degrees in the band hall. You should see him dress, he's wearing sweaters and long pants to work, and still coming home freezing! Hopefully, for the safety of the kids, they get that fixed soon! Cara and I were up there Mon-Wed delivering his lunch, and just breaking up his day a little bit. He's getting a lot done, even with no computer still hooked up (oh they teased him, they installed it on Wednesday, but the actual tech people haven't come yet and made it sign-in-able for him, so it's useless at this point). He's liking the school, admin there and all the people he has met so far, so that's great. We are praying that he is a good Christian role model for the kids that will be in his band. Please pray with us! Some of these kids need some light in their life.

I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but we have cancelled our cable (and are actually switching our internet company on Monday) so that bill will go from about $111/month to $20/month!! We still had the cable for 2-3 weeks after we cancelled it because they had to come out to 'turn it off' (and turned off our internet for 2 days on accident), but it officially went away on Tuesday. We haven't missed it that much. Its really good to actually talk in the evenings, or get lost in a good book. Eric's been getting lots done, and Cara doesn't seem to miss it (although we do have a couple of elmo dvds). I feel like God has been pushing me to stop just vegging in front of the tv every night after Cara goes to bed for MONTHS. We were talking in my bible study earlier this summer about how sometimes you just wait to hear from God about something and He tells you, um, no why don't you fix what I told you to fix months ago, and then we can talk about what you're wanting to talk about now. I was cleaning out my bible of past notes taken, and I found something from October 2007 regarding, what do you think God is telling you to give up, and my answer was TV!!! So, finally 10 months later I'm being obedient (and I think it took me that long to talk Eric into it, he definitely wasn't feeling the push like I was). I'm sure he'd still love it, but now that we are working on our finances together (I always did them, now he's learning all that I do), he is liking the idea of a much smaller bill!

Well, I guess that's it for now. Time to cozy up to the book I'm trying to finish and hopefully get some more sleep :)

Eric's 2nd trimester!

DSC06594
Originally uploaded by mistylnewsome.

Haha, well I just wanted to post and say I uploaded a lot of new pictures last night to flickr. We took a picture of my belly, so Eric thought it would be funny to take one of his. Little did he know I'd blog it ;) hehehehehe.....