This week makes 20 weeks of pregnancy- we're half way there! As you can see from the picture above I've grown a bit over the past 2 weeks:) The baby is moving around a lot more now and it is a lot stronger. On Monday morning Josh and I were eating breakfast together and, for the first time, we could actually see the baby moving. It looked like a little elbow poking through the skin in sharp, short little movements. It was the greatest moment thus far and it was awesome to share in it together. It's moving to see Josh's excitement and to hear him transition from calling it "the baby" to "my son." He's going to make a great father! Other than increased movement and hunger not much has changed recently. I'm still feeling well, overall. I still battle fatigue daily and it's a little worse as the weather here is finally getting warmer (on some days). Thankfully, we're having an exceptionally cool summer still and it's helpful to me:) Today, I don't think it got above 65. We've had partly-sunny days mixed with thunderstorms every day for a month now, I think. I don't mind it, though! The only other change is that over the last week I've suddenly noticed I become winded more easily when walking across town. I'm moving a little slower and that's not fun:)
This week we visited our friend Radek at his home. He's become a good friend of ours over the last year and we've enjoyed many fun times together. He's always been a generous friend and tried to help us in many different ways- finding a trust-worthy accountant for our company, helping with Czech translation, helping us with our teen English camps, etc. This week he let us know that the cherries on his tree were ripe and ready to be picked. We had a wonderful time picking them together and eating some along the way:) They are the perfect type for making homemade pies and jam. I can't wait to do both of those things...in August after these English camps are over. He let us keep all of the cherries we were able to pick! We filled 4 large containers with these cherries! These are the types of experiences with friends here that we will cherish forever.
Today we celebrated Christie's 30th birthday. This is another of our "shape cakes," as is tradition for birthdays here. The main rule is that every part must be edible. We died marshmallows to make the numbers on this cake. They didn't taste the best, but they were edible! In the past we've used stick pretzels and icing to hold things together...it can become quiet the adventure. These cakes above were not hard to make this year. These are dice in honor of one of our favorite games to play together- and a game in which we often tease Christie about "going for it" long after she should have stopped. We celebrated together with the group from Harding who are here to help us with our Away English Camp, which begins tomorrow night. We'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon for a retreat center in a town about 1 hour from Olomouc. We have 32 czech teenagers joining us for 7 days of camp. We are looking forward to it and pray that everything goes well. Please pray with us that this is another step (a big one) towards growing a teen ministry in Olomouc for God's kingdom. Many of these students we already know and we are looking forward to knowing them better and sharing more of our faith with them over this next week. Please pray for safety for all of us as we travel to and from this center by bus, train, and/or car over the next week. I look forward to writing all about camp when we get back! Please also pray for our next English camp, Day Camp Olomouc, which begins one week afterthis Away Camp ends.
This week makes 20 weeks of pregnancy- we're half way there! As you can see from the picture above I've grown a bit over the past 2 weeks:) The baby is moving around a lot more now and it is a lot stronger. On Monday morning Josh and I were eating breakfast together and, for the first time, we could actually see the baby moving. It looked like a little elbow poking through the skin in sharp, short little movements. It was the greatest moment thus far and it was awesome to share in it together. It's moving to see Josh's excitement and to hear him transition from calling it "the baby" to "my son." He's going to make a great father! Other than increased movement and hunger not much has changed recently. I'm still feeling well, overall. I still battle fatigue daily and it's a little worse as the weather here is finally getting warmer (on some days). Thankfully, we're having an exceptionally cool summer still and it's helpful to me:) Today, I don't think it got above 65. We've had partly-sunny days mixed with thunderstorms every day for a month now, I think. I don't mind it, though! The only other change is that over the last week I've suddenly noticed I become winded more easily when walking across town. I'm moving a little slower and that's not fun:)
This week we visited our friend Radek at his home. He's become a good friend of ours over the last year and we've enjoyed many fun times together. He's always been a generous friend and tried to help us in many different ways- finding a trust-worthy accountant for our company, helping with Czech translation, helping us with our teen English camps, etc. This week he let us know that the cherries on his tree were ripe and ready to be picked. We had a wonderful time picking them together and eating some along the way:) They are the perfect type for making homemade pies and jam. I can't wait to do both of those things...in August after these English camps are over. He let us keep all of the cherries we were able to pick! We filled 4 large containers with these cherries! These are the types of experiences with friends here that we will cherish forever.
Today we celebrated Christie's 30th birthday. This is another of our "shape cakes," as is tradition for birthdays here. The main rule is that every part must be edible. We died marshmallows to make the numbers on this cake. They didn't taste the best, but they were edible! In the past we've used stick pretzels and icing to hold things together...it can become quiet the adventure. These cakes above were not hard to make this year. These are dice in honor of one of our favorite games to play together- and a game in which we often tease Christie about "going for it" long after she should have stopped. We celebrated together with the group from Harding who are here to help us with our Away English Camp, which begins tomorrow night. We'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon for a retreat center in a town about 1 hour from Olomouc. We have 32 czech teenagers joining us for 7 days of camp. We are looking forward to it and pray that everything goes well. Please pray with us that this is another step (a big one) towards growing a teen ministry in Olomouc for God's kingdom. Many of these students we already know and we are looking forward to knowing them better and sharing more of our faith with them over this next week. Please pray for safety for all of us as we travel to and from this center by bus, train, and/or car over the next week. I look forward to writing all about camp when we get back! Please also pray for our next English camp, Day Camp Olomouc, which begins one week afterthis Away Camp ends.
I'm sure it's not fun with the warmer weather kicking into gear, but I know Natalie's got to be jealous... Granted, she has air conditioning, but we were in OKC for her baby shower today, and I must admit that 105 degrees is pretty ridiculous, even for those of us who aren't 8 months pregnant! Definitely will be praying for you over the next week! Have lots of fun!! Love you!
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