15-16 Weeks...

Here are a few pictures to try and end the day on a brighter note (see post below).  By the way, if you have never tried a recipe from The Pioneer Woman you should.  I've tried several and I am never disappointed- if you like to cook very southern, comfort-type, foods.  Today Jakub and I made her coffee cake and it's DELICIOUS!  It truly is one of the best I've ever had.  Plus, she has beautiful, step-by-step, photos to go with her recipes. 

 

 We watched the Lion King on the floor together. :)

 15-16 weeks

We're definitely in that phase of awkward, posed smiles from him. :)  It's either this, or a roaring lion. :)

Too much worry...

**Spoiler alert:  This is not going to be the most upbeat blog post. And there are no pictures.

I contemplated not even writing this down at all, but then the desire to have people pray for me, and my strong belief in the power of God through prayer, won me over.  I've been a little too worried lately about the safety and health of my pregnancy.  I don't want to worry this much and would appreciate your prayers for peace, for better faith, and for good health for me and the baby.  I recognize it's normal, when you're pregnant, to notice even more than normal all of the pregnancy and birth stories happening around you.  It seems in the past two weeks I've come across several heart-breaking stories and struggles amongst some of my friends, or their family, and I've let it really weigh me down.  A couple of the worst to me, because they hit so close to home at this stage in my pregnancy, were the two young women who had perfectly normal and healthy pregnancies and then went in for their 20 or 22 week check-ups and ultrasounds to discover their babies hearts had stopped at some point after their 16-18 week exams.  There were no other signs that something was wrong and nothing had been wrong with their pregnancies prior to these events.  Now, I know this happens in life, but to have it happen to two people I have connections to in the last two weeks has been a little hard to take.  On top of that I recently heard of a mother who passed away during child birth, and another whose baby came at 30 weeks and needed a lot of help.  I don't know why I've let it all worry me so much recently, but I have.  I've been praying about it, but I would appreciate your prayers as well.  I don't want to continue with this worry and I don't want to keep thinking through these scenarios trying to prepare myself for how I would handle it if it happened to me.  I want to live with the peace that God is in control and that, no matter what happens, He is still in control and will guide me and comfort me through whatever comes in my life.  Thanks for your prayers!!

It's been too long...

Wow.  I never thought 2 1/2 months would go by without blogging one little bit.  Now, I don't even know where to begin and for the sake of actually getting back to it I'm going to have to leave so much out.  However, I'll do my best to hit some of the highlights. First, I'm 14 weeks pregnant. :)  No, we don't know what we are having, yet, but we do know that the baby is big and healthy.  We had a genetic-screening ultrasound and check-up this week and the baby is developing without any problems.  Praise God!  We and Jakub are growing more and more excited all the time to have another child.  Jakub is beginning to talk about the baby and asks to see my belly often.  He loves to look at the ultrasound photos, which is really sweet. 

Kisses for the baby!

The baby measuring around 15 weeks.

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Other fun things we've been doing this summer- eating ice cream! :)

Visiting Svaty Kopecek 

Having a snack and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Group photo from one of our summer camps.  They were truly the best ones yet and we thank God for that gift!

Superman!!!  He loved playing with our skit props. :)

Me and Josh at camp. 

Our Olomouc Team with our summer interns at their farewell party and grill-out after church.  They helped us so much this summer!

Christie and us as Graham and Terka's wedding.  There aren't many photos from it available yet, but it was a gorgeous wedding and lovely night with perfect weather.  We had a great time and were honored to be a part of their very special day.  We're going to miss them as they move to Scotland for school and work in the next week.  Please keep our team in your prayers as we get smaller, once again.  We hope and pray that God will help us add 4 teammates next year- those 4 are currently finishing school and preparing themselves and fundraising in order to come.  Please pray God provides them with all they need to move here and work with us for 2 years each.  So, those are a few of the bigger things that have been going on here the last 2 months.  Those events, along with continuing to be really sick with the pregnancy, are reasons I have not been blogging. I hope to be better about it now that we're getting back in to a normal routine and I hope the sickness will end any day now.  Thanks for your prayers regarding the pregnancy as well.  We hope everything will continue to go as well as it has so far!  We're excited! :)