Baby Shower in Kansas

Do you know those ladies in your life (for me they are ladies from the church I grew up in) who have known you through every awkward developmental stage, every rebellious stage, every bad haircut and just about everything else? I think there is something really special about having ladies like this in your life. And my special ladies had a baby shower for me and maya on sunday via skype! There are several things that set this apart from the last (wonderful) skype shower we had. The biggest thing was just the blessing of getting to see ladies who have known me and whom i have known for many many years. ladies who took us to camp each summer (God bless you Debi!) Ladies who celebrated my high school graduation and my college graduation. Ladies who cried with me when I said goodbye and headed for East Asia. Ladies who squealed with delight when they heard about Matt and I getting together. Ladies who were there to see us get married (and blessed us in so many ways at that time of our lives). Ladies who cried again when we left for the Middle East. Even though I haven't seen these ladies in more than two years now, I know that these are ladies who have not forgotten about us. As each lady came over to the computer to say a greeting or share a special gift for Maya or share a word of encouragement, I was so blessed to be reminded (again) that I am a part of a BIG family.

Where we live, big families are the norm, and it's common for people to get together with their families every weekend. There are times when this has left me feeling very lonely, and very much like an outsider. But the Lord puts the lonely in families! Not only has he placed Matt and I in a group of people here in our city who really love one another like family, He was gracious and kind enough to remind me on Sunday of these wonderful ladies who though we are on the other side of the earth, remember us and pray for us and love us. They are the Body of Christ, and the way they loved and served us and just celebrated the excitement of our coming baby was such a blessing. Preparing to have our first baby in a strange culture, so far away has brought me to tears more than once in the last 8 months, but the Lord has been so faithful to remind me again and again that I am not alone, and not only has He given us His Spirit, He has also placed in our lives many many people who love and support us in so many unique ways.

Check out pictures of all the fun we had on my mom's blog:
http://thecedarsofpittsburg.blogspot.com/2009/10/skype-shower-for-kellie-and-maya.html

Thank you Debi, especially, for loving me like I'm yours and for planning the whole shower. I can't wait to see that sleeper with the tutu up close and all the precious socks you girls crafted for Maya. She is going to be one stylish girl. Seriously.

Vacation in Egypt

Our vacation in pictures

it doesn't get much better than bottomless chips and salsa

at "On the Border" in Cairo

Matt's eyes got really big when he saw his food come

and he got his usual chicken enchiladas

then we flew onto Sharm el Sheikh on the tip of the sinai penninsula where matt dove 9 times during the week and Maya and i snorkeled several times

we met up with good friends who love diving even more than mj

and we enjoyed the AMAZING artistry of God's creation under water

this was the view from our room up on the rocks

this is what the resort looked like

unfortunately our room was way up at the top--more than 120 stairs

more wonders under the sea

check out the red coral stuff! so cool!

these were some big daddy fish

this guy was ENORMOUS--doesn't he look grumpy?!

our group out on the diving boat.

THE END!

A Place to Lay Her Head

the best handyman ever

getting the lowdown

the finished product!

Baby Belly On Vacation

For those of you who have requested it, here's the latest baby belly photo I have. This picture was taken on the dive boat that we took out on the Red Sea for Matt and some of his buddies to go diving and for me and Maya to do some snorkeling. Matt and I both just had birthdays, so this was a vacation and a birthday celebration, as well as what some have told us is now called a babymoon. Apparently that's when you take a last trip before having a baby. With ocean creatures on my mind, I have affectionately nicknamed Maya the baby octopus, for her amazing ability to bump me in numerous places in my belly, all at the same moment. She is getting big and I can really feel her taking up more space now, and kicking some strong kicks! She also has some funny patterns I have been able to notice (like when i lay on my side, she gets way up in my side and does something that feels like she's trying to tickle me from the inside). I think she really liked the snorkeling. One day when we were out on the boat the water had a LOT of big waves and the boat was rocking pretty hard while we waited for the guys to finish their dive. She slept through it but at one point I thought we might have to chuck our cookies in the beautiful blue waters while Daddy was diving deep below! I will write more about vacation as well as post lots of pics--one of the guys in our group had an underwater camera so he was able to capture much of the beauty of God's creation under water! So . . . to be continued.

Rocking Chair

My husband is so wonderful that he spent time on HIS birthday getting me a special early birthday present. Since our birthdays are only a few days apart, and my birthday will come while we are on vacation, he decided he needed to get me something special before we leave. So he used his free time on his special day to get me something special for my special day. He got me this great rocking chair for Maya's room! It is really comfy and I can't wait to start putting it to good use!

Nesting

I had read and heard from other women that "nesting" is a common behavior of pregnant women, but I was feeling a little nervous that I have not been doing anything that resembled nesting. I knew that I needed to start getting ready for Maya, but I had zero motivation to do any of the big projects I want to finish before she comes (like finishing the curtains in the office/new guest room). But, as soon as we had our baby shower and I knew we had all kinds of adorable baby clothes coming our way, I was inspired. First, I spent the better part of a day cleaning out the armoire in Maya's soon to be room as well as the dresser that will become her changing table (and finding a new home for all of that stuff!). So then the armoire was ready for all her cute little bitty clothes but I was unsure about how I would find baby hangers to hang everything on. If I lived in America, I would hop in the car and head to WalMart. Sometimes around here the most simple WalMart kind of item can be rather elusive and I was expecting to find that to be the case with the baby hangers. My plan was to go the "The 500 Store". This is kind of like the dollar store, but the day that I went there, they were mysteriously closed. On a whim I thought that a grocery store near the 500 Store might have hangers, so Matt and I went in , (me trying not to be too hopeful, so as not to be disappointed if there werent' any), but to my delight, we found these:

They only had a few bundles of five, so we bought all the baby hangers they had and for some strange reason, I was SO excited about these hangers! When we got home I hung them all up in the armoire and felt much more prepared for motherhood somehow. Then a group of visitors arrived bearing multiple suitcases full of adorable things for Maya from the shower that we just had. Bedding, clothes, hair bows, blankets, shoes and more! This girl could open her own boutique already!

And then Matt investigated what the uses were for several of the items we received:

What is a bottle brush for?

Why does she need a personal grooming kit?
Oh, now I see!

After doing mountains of pink laundry for the past few days (it was fun to wash such cute little things!) I decided today that I would clean all of the windows in our house, both inside and out. I don't know what came over me. They haven't been cleaned in a LONG time. Living on the 8th floor, this is no small (or always safe) task. It didn't exactly get done, and let me just show you why:

the door/windows in our bedroom

Windows in Maya's room . . .

And in the office/guest room

and the balcony door in the office/guest room

doors from the kitchen to the pantry/laundry room/storage room . . .

windows in the actual pantry/laundry room

sliding doors to the balcony from the dining room
sliding doors to the balcony from the living room . . .

and finally the living room windows.

So basically, I managed to wash the windows in the office/guest room, Maya's room, and the outside of our room. And then I was so tired I laid down on the living room floor and went to sleep. No wonder I have never tried this all at once before. This is a case of nesting gone wrong. Incidentally I have taken at least 2 more naps since then (as in 2 more naps all in the same day). I didn't even get 50% done! I should have gone to find more hangers instead!

She is Growing . . . 28 weeks!