Visit to the Doctor

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. We had a nice visit to the doctor today. My urine tests were normal and my blood pressure remains low/normal (118/68). The fetal monitoring was great. We forgot to take something to record the heartbeat with, but we will next time when we return in 2 weeks. Josh loved getting to hear it this time- it ran around 150 bpm the whole time. It was also fun to watch him kick against the belt:) They took some blood for general testing and we should know the results in 2 weeks. The physical exam went well- no changes yet and no problems noted. The ultrasound showed a sweet and healthy boy playing around a lot. Unfortunately, he remains head up. I'm to continue to take it easier, though I'll continue working as well, and I'm to keep doing the daily exercises to encourage him to move back head down. Otherwise, he's doing great. He weighed in at around 3 lbs 10oz. He's over 17 inches long and we're in the 8th month now! Whoohoo! I guess it really is time to start preparing more and to get around to picking out a name in the next 6 weeks or so:) I don't have a good picture of him this time, but hopefully I will next time.

I return in 2 weeks for a full check up with fetal monitoring. I will then have another appointment the following week for only 20 minutes of fetal monitoring. I will then have one last appointment with my doctor a week after that for another full check-up and fetal monitoring. After that, my appointments will be at the hospital so the doctors there can get to know me and so we can do all of the pre-baby paperwork and orientation to the hospital. Crazy, but seems like a really good and careful system here. I really like it so far. Thanks again for your prayers!

More pictures...

Josh took some pictures today of me in our apartment and outside in the park across the street. It was a lot of fun, though embarrassing at times to be stared at. We already look like foreigners most of the time and today we weren't helping that out very much by walking through the park with our camera:) Oh well. I really enjoyed it and I really like the way they turned out. We took a lot, but I'm only putting up a few on here for now. It takes a long time to download and I'm about to take a nap so I'm being impatient:) I hope you enjoy them! Please pray about our appointment tomorrow and that everything is still progressing well! I look forward to seeing him again tomorrow- and to hearing his heartbeat!

The Big 30!

Well, our baby turned the big 30 last week:) Somehow saying I'm in my 31st week this week makes the end seem much closer. Everything is still going well with the pregnancy. Sleeping at night is starting to get a little more uncomfortable with all of the positioning and turning and pillows and tiny lung space, but overall I think I still sleep well during the night:) He still keeps my day and night pattern, which I really like, and which helps me to sleep so well I'm sure. He's very active during the day time. He's started moving lower already and doesn't really kick so much into the ribs anymore as he does some kind of painful twirl/movement more into my hip sockets and bladder. That's not so fun! He gets the hiccups a lot, but only started doing that more recently. So far I don't like them at all:) What I really like is to watch his movements across my belly. Our next doctors appointment is next week, on Tuesday morning. I'll have my first 20-30 minute session of fetal monitoring and I look forward to that. It will be the 2nd time I get to hear his heartbeat and for much longer this time.

We tried to tour our local hospital on Monday, but they were beyond capacity with women in labor so they weren't able to show us any labor rooms or surgical areas. I hope to return next Monday and see everything there. I have some really great Czech friends here who have already been sending me lists of what I will need at the hospital, where I can buy those things, how to talk about them in Czech, etc. That's been really great! Even though we don't know where we will be moving to, yet, I've begun buying a few more "essential" items in the event we need them anytime soon. (By the way, we hope to begin looking at apartments next Tuesday, so please pray about that process with us). This week I bought a baby tub:) It was fun! Most apartments here don't have a sink big enough to bathe a baby in and not all apartments have a normal-sized bathtub, either. Some only have built-in, square shaped, showers, or something that combines the two, but is much smaller than a normal tub size. We will be looking for one that comes with both a shower and tub, hopefully. I also bought some diapers and wipes, some newborn warm sleepers, and some hospital supplies for me. I also (I know it's early, but that's just me:) packed my hospital bag and a small supply bag for the baby. I thought just in case he happens to come early I will be prepared and won't have to worry about Josh figuring out where everything is or where to buy everything. The shopping/finding everything in Czech process here can take so long sometimes- especially when it's a new area of life that we haven't shopped for before, or learned a lot of the vocabulary for before. Also, half of our bedroom is already packed in boxes, so it looks a little crazy in there already.

Before I move on to other fun events going on here... no, we still do not have a name picked out. We'll get to it, eventually:)

Below are some pictures of the reason why I haven't blogged in a while... these are from our new facility:

Children's Room
Children's Room
Main RoomFuture Computer and Teaching Room

Prayer, Study, Office Room

So, except for a kitchen area in progress, these are the rooms we have mostly finished in our new facility. We've been working on it for about 5 weeks now and have been hosting events here for 2 1/2 - 3 weeks now. It's going really well and we are very thankful to have this place. Especially for our teen ministry and our young mothers ministry, both of which have outgrown our homes over the summer time, we are taking advantage of this new place and all the different things we can do there. Each of us on the team took responsibility for different rooms and then we went to work painting, finding furniture, cleaning, organizing, etc. Of course, we all helped each other with most of it. Sarah K. and I did the childrens room (though we had friends paint it for us:). We've already hosted several events here. Each week we have after-school hours from 2-6pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays to give the teens we know a place to go after school. We play games together, talk, tutor with homework and with English learning, etc. On Wednesday evenings each week we host a Christian program for teens that is similar to the program they had each day at camp. We sing songs, play games around a certain theme, watch videos or have small devotionals for them, and then some discussion group time. Some is in English and some is in Czech. It's good for all of us and it's great that many teens are regularly visiting us now. We hope it will only grow and grow! This week Sarah K. and I will begin again our Moms and Kids English class we have done before. This time will have even more focus on Bible stories and Christian childrens songs and we are really looking forward to that. Many of our friends are inviting some of their friends and that is always a good sign. We just hope they will all come! Please pray about all of these events we are doing each week and that God will shine through us to all of these different people. Our relationships are going much deeper now and we are thankful for that and the opportunity it gives us to share even more from our lives and from the Bible with these people.

Good times...

I don't have any pictures to go with this one, but I will post some more soon. I just wanted to give a quick update since it's been over a week since the last post. We just had an awesome weekend retreat with many other Christians from some surrounding countries. It's an annual retreat hosted in our country. This year we were at a beautiful camp site about 2 hours from Olomouc. It was cool and beautiful there. We even noticed many leaves changing along the drive there. I love fall, so I'm really looking forward to this season we are entering now. Here in Olomouc some of the trees have been changing for 2 weeks or more. Fall here seems to begin so early, but it takes it's time. It was beautiful well into October and even early November last year.

At the retreat we enjoyed a wonderful time of singing, listening to different speakers on the topic of being an example of Christ, catching up with old friends we see only 1-2 times a year, and playing games together. I am also thankful that we were able to take with us 2 very dear, non-believing friends from Olomouc. They wanted to join us to see what this type of retreat and time of fellowship really means. They actively participated and, I believe, truly enjoyed their time with us and with the many new people they met over the weekend. Please be praying with us that it was one more step they were taking towards God. We had a wonderful time together.

We also, this week, hosted our first teen event at our new facility- tonight actually. I won't say a lot now because I'm pretty tired from it:) However, it was truly a blessing and we were so excited to spend time with those who came. We began with our weekly Frisbee event in the park in the early afternoon (where we had about 15 students attend) and then we transitioned to an evening program in our facility. We began with some ice-breaker games, then some time reviewing our camps and watching a video we made from our camps, then we talked about why we are here and what our hopes are for our facility, and then we had a time of sharing from the Bible and an encouragine message for everyone to help them start off the school year and this time of transition for them. It went really well. We had about 13 people come and we were very thankful. We hope they will tell their friends and encourage others to join them next week. We then spent the last of our time together playing some board games, having snacks, and enjoying visiting with each other. Please pray with us that we will grow in number, in friendship, and in deepness with one another over the coming school year.

Please also be praying for me and Sarah Keen as we begin planning for another Moms-and-Kids class to begin in our new facility. We hope to begin it as soon as possible (in the next 2 weeks) so we can establish a routine with the mothers we know (and their friends who have shown interest) before the baby comes and we must take a break for a bit. We are excited that several of our friends have asked us in the last 2 weeks if we will begin again soon. That's wonderful!

Ok, just wanted to give a little update of what is going on here. Good night:)

The Third Trimester- Yeah! :)

We've entered into the third trimester and we are thankful for how well the pregnancy is continuing to go! We also made our first 2 purchases for the baby:) Above you can see a couple of toy/blanket bins I found on our trip to IKEA last Saturday. The dark brown and blue match the baby bedding we finally settled on. The blue blanket is a gift from my Mom, which she made herself. It smells like her, too, which I love! The outside of the bins match a baby crib color that we are considering. We know we want to do the room in blues and browns, so these were an exciting find for me.
We also purchased a baby stroller set! Here we call it a kocarek (ko-char-ek). I don't know how to adequately describe what these things really are here, but they are something like small cars:) They have awesome shock systems underneath with the wheels, the wheels alone are strong and more like tires, and all of the gear that comes with them for winter weather is intimidating. Our baby will be born during the winter, so I've had fun playing with it all and figuring out how everything works and zips and folds... The far left piece is the car seat which also pops on to the stroller and can be used when the baby is first born. The middle piece is usually for babies older than one month here and used mostly in winter and spring. It's heavily lined inside for warmth and comfort and zips up almost completely with the outer lining. It's also used on the stroller. The third piece is for babies after they've learned to sit up safely and are older. It folds down into a flat bed or sits up straight. I love the underneath storage as well, because you use it here as your shopping cart when you walk to the grocery store with your kid and then have to walk home with all of the groceries stored somewhere. Wow, that's a lot of detail about a stroller:) I guess you can tell I'm excited about it.
Here is a belly shot for the beginning of the 28th week. This shirt always makes me look a little lower and smaller than I think I really look. I changed shirts further below and you can see what a difference that makes.


We had our doctor's appointment today. Everything went really well. I found out that I passed all of the blood glucose testing. No pregnancy-induced diabetes, yeah! I'm very thankful for that blessing. My exam went well, no problems there. The ultrasound was awesome, but did not make for a good picture so, we didn't get one this time. This kid really wants to keep us guessing as to what he'll really look like when he comes out:) I guess he knows his parents really like surprises and don't mind waiting. He's measuring well and weighing in at 2 lbs 6 oz. His heartrate was good/normal. He was playing with his eyes and nose the whole time so we never saw a clear profile shot of him. We saw lots of hand movement and fingers opening and closing on the nose and eye area. His head was down, which is great, and his feet were definitely kicking up in the rib area:) It was awesome to see him playing in there. His movements are really visible on the outside now, as well. They have been for some time in the form of sharp, sudden pokes and kicks here and there, but now they look alien-like as you watch him move across the belly. I love watching it!

Many of my pregnant friends here tease me that he already keeps my schedule. Usually he kicks a lot during the day and moves around as I work. Usually, when I lay down to sleep, he stops (or has already stopped by then) and appears to be asleep during the night with me. I know I'm lucky in this way. I don't usually feel him move again until I wake up in the morning and then he wakes up and begins moving a lot with me. Well, last night was a different story for the first time. I woke up around 5 to use the restroom and I guess he thought that meant it was time to get up. I could hardly sleep after that for all the moving and kicking he was doing:) I hope that's not going to be a new pattern- yet. I know it's coming when he's born, but I like being able to sleep well right now!:)

We go for our next appointment at the end of September. I'll be 31-32 weeks then. I'll begin, at the next visit, to have routine external monitoring of the baby's heartbeat and movement over a 20-30 minute period. I also hope to tour our local hospital in the next couple of weeks to see exactly where we will go and what their rules/procedures are like here. I look forward to that as well!

Thanks for all of your prayers! We're very thankful to God for another great check-up!

Vacation Time and/or Baby Moon?

First things first, right Mom? Here is another belly shot. I know I take a lot of belly shots, but I have plenty of requests from family to see as many pictures as they can get from me:) So, this is a picture of me in my bathing suit my Mom sent me for my birthday in June. It's come in handy this summer and is really comfortable. Thanks, Mom!
Here I am on the patio of the place where Josh and I recently stayed when we took a mini-vacation to Lipova Lazne. We took 4 days off and retreated to this village in the nearby Jesenik mountains. It was an amazingly beautiful area and you'll see several pictures of it below. Some friends have teased that this was our "babymoon." I think that means the last sane vacation you'll ever have together before the child comes along and you don't quiet relax/sleep the same again on future vacations:)
Sorry these aren't in the best order. This is a picture of the surrounding area where we stayed. Olomouc is in a relatively flat area of the country so, this was a wonderful change of scenery for us. It was so quiet and peaceful here. We also had amazing weather during our vacation- I think the temperature staying around 70-75 during the day. One day it rained, which was also beautiful, and it was cool enough to wear jackets all day. I liked that:) Our place also had air-conditioning, which was a fun experience, because we've never stayed anywhere here that had it.
This is near a popular ski-resort in the area. Someday I would love to ski in this part of the country.
This is where we stayed. It's a hotel that also has small apartments available to rent for vacation time. We stayed in a small apartment on the bottom right of this hotel.
This small river ran through the village where we stayed. We took walks beside it during the day. It was so peaceful and beautiful here. We both commented on how much we would love to live closer to water and to hear the sound of the river every day.
This is a small fortress in a town near to where we stayed. We didn't go up to see it because it was raining, but we enjoyed a nice long car ride through the mountains on this afternoon.
A view from near our apartment. I really enjoyed this rainy day as a change to the other, sunnier days. This day reminded me of being in Ireland.

Here is the kitchen in the apartment. It was fun to cook together each day in a kitchen that's more nicely equipped than our own:) Somehow that made doing the dishes together more fun:)
This is the living room and the patio is just outside of it. The windows on the left side open up like doors would. It made for a very beautiful view.
Another view of the living/bedroom. It was a small, but beautiful apartment in which to stay. It was perfect for vacation time together. We liked having a place to cook in and a patio to hang out on. We're very thankful for this time we could take together and to relax a bit before heading back to Olomouc and all of the exciting things we have going on here now.

26 Weeks

Wow, what a difference a week or two can make! We're beginning our 26th week now and I have noticed a big change in just the last week. My belly has grown a lot and feels more stretched now, the baby is kicking even harder, and the heat here is more intolerable than before. I accidentally discovered popsicles this weekend and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. We're having some of our hottest days yet and they have come in handy each night at bedtime:) It's funny the little things you get excited about sometimes, like popsicles. I found lemon and orange and both are really good. They do have a few versions of popsicle-like/ice-cream filled desserts here, but they are individually sold and expensive. I've never found a whole box of fruit flavored popsicles like what we are used to having in the states. The funny thing here is that you can find something one time and once it's been bought out of the store you'll not see it again for a long time. Hopefully that won't happen in this case! I know I could make them homemade...I just have never gotten around to it...too lazy I guess:)

We enjoyed a nice grill-out with some of our Czech friends last night. These friends are all of the couples we played floorball with each week throughout last fall, winter and spring. This summer we've moved outside to the park and played some frisbee together. We've also just enjoyed spending time together grilling and hanging out at each others homes. One of the best parts has been that 5 of the 7 of us girls are pregnant right now. One is due in October, 2 in November, then me on the 1st of December, and then Sarah Keen next February. It makes for some really fun times together talking about the pregnancies and encouraging one another.


Today Josh and I are anxiously awaiting the news of the arrivals of two babies we've been praying for and are looking forward to seeing pictures of soon. One is the daughter, Addison, of our cousins in Oklahoma- Nic and Natalie. We just talked to them on the phone at the hospital and that was a great blessing! They are definitely ready to meet their little girl today! The other is the son, Thomas Alexander, of our dear friend Bonnie in Fayetteville. Bonnie has been a good friend of ours since college and there is a very special story to go along with the birth of this precious baby boy.
You can read more about it here: http://www.sweetcarolinebaby.blogspot.com/

It won't be long before we also welcome our 4th niece into the world! I'm looking forward to that day as well! She's due to arrive the first week of September- or maybe even before that:)