Rough day

Somehow I find myself awake at 1 am using the keyword search "comfort" on biblegateway.com (one of my favorite resources). I found MANY references including this one. Although typically thought about in times of loss, this has soothed my soul this evening:

¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

² He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

³ he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

⁴ Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, ^a]">[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

⁶ Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

(Psalm 23, NIV)

The end of my work day was nothing like I expected. I can't write about it in much detail for different reasons (e.g. I'd prefer to keep my job!). But suffice it to say that I'm playing lots of yucky memories through my head of the many ways in which I've felt lack of support. My work evaluation was fine but nothing like I expected, and I'm not sure how I want to address it... or if I should even bother at this point.

Needless to say I'm remembering the One who always has my best interests at heart... and will lift up my head and comfort me... Thank God for his love and care. Now I think I can go back to bed resting in the knowledge of my Savior.

Beautiful Passage

I read this passage today as part of my Easter week reading. I thought many of you would enjoy and appreciate it as well:

Mark 14:3-9 (NIV)

³While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

⁴Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? ⁵It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly.

⁶"Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. ⁸She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. ⁹I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

...............................................................................................................................................................

This woman's generosity blows me away. How she loved Jesus and was willing to shower him with her love and adoration. What she did for him was sacrificial. I pray that I can do a fraction of what this woman did for Him.

May we all reflect on these verses. And may they inspire us to worship and adore our Savior.

Kathleen's Bridal Shower

I traveled to Virginia Beach, VA this past weekend to attend my twin sister Kathleen's bridal shower. Her friend Danielle hosted the shower at PF Chang (which is actually where Kathleen met Scott for the first time). Kathleen wore a sash that said "Bride to Be" and had a tiara with some tulle to make it look like a veil. She looked pretty cute! Here is a picture of Kathleen and Haley (her 11 year old daughter, and MY awesome niece):


We had a nice lunch off the menu and then enjoyed these yummy cupcakes. Kathleen selected orange and fuschia for her wedding colors, so the cupcakes were adorned in those colors. Goodness, these cupcakes are so good. You could literally taste the butter in the icing. Mmm....


It was so nice to share this time with Kathleen and her friends. I get to hear a lot about them, but it was nice to meet them in person. Scott, Kathleen's fiance, stopped by to see everyone as well. Isn't he a cutie too?


The wedding is in less than 4 weeks. My whole family is coming in from around the country to celebrate with Kathleen and Scott. It should be a great weekend. Kathleen and I went shopping and I found a couple maternity dresses that I can wear for the wedding/work. I was thrilled to find a couple that look pretty good, but were also really affordable. I have a feeling these dresses will come in handy this summer when it's hot and I need some comfy to wear. YAY.

So, here is a pic of me and my twin sis and niece. So glad I could make these memories with them.

Hope everyone has a great week. Isaac will be home tonight! He's been gone for a week for business. Can't wait to see him!

99 Days till Baby J's Due Date!

We're in double digits people! 99 days till Baby J's official due date. Granted, he could come early, or come late. But WOW! he's going to be here in a little over 3 months!

We're getting very excited about meeting our little guy in person. We ordered crib bedding, a car seat, and a diaper bag this week. So we're starting to make some progress. The baby's room is now cleaned out. We need to take a stack of boxes to my mom's for storage. And take the queen sized bed to my dad's beach house, but we're getting there. I'm hoping we can pick up the crib and changing table we bought from a friend (in January!) home some time soon. I think Isaac and I will both feel better once we can SEE his room coming together. We still need to buy a dresser and glider. But that will come. : )

In the meantime, baby J is kicking and moving around. And Isaac felt him kick for the first time last weekend. It really is such a magical thing. I love to see how much in love Isaac is with the baby already. My belly is growing but that's to be expected. Soon I'll get to the point where the baby is gaining about a 1/2 lb a week! and then I'll really start growing myself!

Happy weekend everyone. I'm headed to Va Beach for Kathleen's bridal luncheon. Only 4 weeks till her big wedding day!

Isaac's Birthday--very belated!

I'm finally posting some pics from Isaac's birthday. We had a great celebration together on his 33rd birthday March 8. It was a Monday night, so we went out to dinner together and then came back home for cake.

Here is a picture of us at the Pit, a great, upscale BBQ restaurant in downtown Raleigh. I had some of the yummiest ribs ever! They also had yummy fried okra and hush puppies and corn bread. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend the Pit. The Pit's pit master has been on Food Network and won quite a few awards for his recipes. He wears awesome starched overalls, and comes out to greet his guests in the dining room. So nice!

Then we were back home for cake. We had to let our BBQ settle for a bit, but then we were ready to dig in! I made a vanilla flavored cake with raspberry filling and swiss meringue icing. We tried NOT to think about the 5 cups of sugar and 1 lb of butter in the cake and icing. But was it ever yummy! Here is a picture of Isaac with his birthday cake:
Isaac and I both said we need to scale back our cake baking efforts. I spent a good afternoon creating this one, and he spent the same amount of time making carrot cake for my birthday last year. I think he grated a couple pounds of fresh carrots for the cake. We can call that cake a vegetable, right? But we love doing this for each other, so we may just carve out the time.

And a long awaited bump picture. I am definitely getting bigger each week. A couple people at church asked if congratulations were in order this past Sunday. I guess I finally look pregnant enough for people to feel safe in asking! : ) This is a picture of us last Sunday at a church potluck. I'm 25 weeks in this picture... and I think I look HUGE. I guess I've not seen anything yet! : )

Have a great week everyone! And happy Spring!

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." (Psalm 19:1)

Updates

Hi all. Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I'll try to do better!

• Had a great time with Julie and Amy in Concord a couple weekends ago. If you want a recap with pictures, see Julie's post: http://rumblesandroars.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-love-my-besties.html I bought baby J a stainless steel trash can for his room, and some adorable little cups, bowls, and plates for when he's a little older.
  
• My sister Kathleen got her test results back from her blood work and ultrasound... and the baby is just fine. They don't need to see her again, so we are so happy that the baby is doing well!
  
• We celebrated Isaac's 33rd birthday last week. We both had colds, but it was still a great day. I love celebrating my awesome husband. I made him a white birthday cake with raspberry filling, and swiss meringue butter cream icing. It was pretty yummy.
• I spent 3 days at NC State last week taking a class on project management. I have a week-long PMP test prep class in Atlanta the last week in April, and then I take that big exam on April 30. This will be a huge milestone for me. Thanks to my husband for letting me spend our "extra money" for the next 10 years on these classes/exam! : )
• I would love to solicit your prayers for my sweet sister in law Cathy (really she's my sister!). Her dad is dying of lung cancer. He was diagnosed a couple years ago, but apparently things are really bad. Please pray for her family and especially for Cathy. Being in California with her dad in TN is really hard on her.

Hope everyone has a great week. Spring starts officially this weekend. Can't wait for the nice weather to continue!

Spin class while 22 weeks pregnant

Hmm..... maybe not such a good idea? I am a little bored of the treadmill (walking) and the elliptical, so I thought I'd go to a spin class (stationary cycle) last night. I think I did okay, but I honestly didn't have enough room to cycle and lean over to grab the handle bars. My tummy isn't that big yet, but it got uncomfortable. So, after about 25 minutes I headed upstairs to walk on the treadmill. That felt MUCH better.

It's been a blessing to be able to exercise through this pregnancy. I'm still wearing my same workout clothes (my shorts sit low on my hips) and my shirts are long. I wonder what people think about me, "A little spare tire?" or "Is she pregnant?" I guess that will be more clear soon enough!

I might hit the pool next week to change things up. I'm not a huge fan of the chlorine, but it might feel good to be in the water.

Off to visit two of my best friends in the whole world this weekend. I AM SO EXCITED. Pictures and a post to come next week.

Happy Post

Since my last few posts have been kind of downers, I thought I'd write a "happy" post!

• I can feel baby J move! I've been feeling him for a couple weeks and it is the neatest thing. Isaac can't feel him from the outside yet, but it's just a matter of time. The little guy is ALIVE and REAL! : )
• My belly has definitely gotten bigger in the last couple of weeks. (Note to self: take a picture so I can share.) I had a lunch meeting today I had to dress professionally for. None of my suits fit, so I put on a pair of black pants and my red cropped jacket with a maternity shirt to cover my belly. I think the shortness of the jacket accentuated my belly b/c people finally started noticing my belly. It was really weird to have so many people notice all at once... but fun at the same time.
• According to his due date, baby J should be here in 123 days. Any guesses on his actual due date? Isaac thinks he's going to be late... probably, but not to late please since it will be SUMMER!
• We have one bathroom completely finished (another note to self: take pictures to share!). And Isaac is sanding the guest bathroom cabinets as I type. I owe that man about a million dollars for all the hard work he's done over the past few months!
• It's March, so that means Spring will officially be here soon--even if it is SNOWING today.

Have a great week all!

Tough Day

I woke up this morning and got ready for work. While I was eating my breakfast my telephone rang and it was Delta Airlines. They were calling to tell me my flight to Birmingham that morning was canceled. Of course this was a pre-recorded message, so I had to call Delta back and spend 20 minutes on hold while I waited for a live person to help. It turned out they couldn't get me to B'ham till late in the evening, so I canceled the ticket and my trip to B'ham for a software conference.

I got to work and went upstairs to my staff meeting. I was pleasantly surprised to be recognized for the "Process Master" designation at my employer (essentially, I work to improve processes, reduce error, and increase efficiency). I spent about 3 years going through this program and passed a big ole test. So it was nice to be recognized. I got a nice acrylic award, a letter from our CEO (mass produced I'm sure), and a framed certificate. Yay!

Then, the bosses dropped the real news... our department is being reorganized AGAIN. I have a new manager--who used to be my peer and am losing my direct report. Really, neither of these things are bad. I don't like managing and having a direct report (who resides in another city) has been extremely stressful for me. And I really like the guy I'm now reporting to--although I'm not sure it's going to be much different than my last boss. There is definitely more to learn and absorb about these changes.

I'm frustrated because no one bothered to communicate this information to me before it was announced to our entire team. The manager apologized but said she, "ran out of time and didn't have a chance to tell us individually." Ugh. Not a great excuse at all!

I haven't liked my job for a very long time. And these changes make me want to give up. I won't, of course. But this is certainly going to mean more work for me in the interim--although it probably means more support in the long run. I've worked on the software system I manage for the past 10 years. It won't be easy to train my new boss on it, or the rest of the team for that matter. So, I'm definitely whining. But I guess I'm just completely worn out from this job.

I immediately came home from work today and started a job search. Obviously this isn't a great time to do that as I'm 22 weeks pregnant. But, I wanted to see what was out there. I may redouble this effort when I'm on maternity leave, or something like that. We'll see. Please just pray for me as I explore options. I feel so trapped and paralyzed in this job sometimes. I KNOW I have options, but it's hard to explore and act on them. If only I knew what I wanted to be when I grow up! : )

Prayers for Kathleen

Hi all. Just wanted to ask you for your prayers on behalf of my twin sister Kathleen. She had her 20 week ultrasound on Friday and the u/s tech found some "shadowing" around the baby's heart. This could be a sign of Down's Syndrome, but more than likely everything is FINE. We just need your prayers for peace until she can get that word. She'll go to the hospital for a more in depth u/s some time soon to recheck it. And she'll have some blood work to check things out. Even the u/s tech said she sees this a lot and she's probably fine. Thanks for your prayers.

I, too, have been pretty upset about it this weekend. When she called me in tears on Friday afternoon, I just kept praying in my head, "Please let this baby be okay." Being pregnant at the same time is a blessing in many ways. But if anything happens to her baby, goodness...

On another front... a woman in our church died last week of colon cancer. She was 39 years old and had a husband and 3 little girls. Please keep the Ham family in your prayers. It turns out that she and my older sister were sorority sisters at UNC. So Carolyn knew her.

And lastly, a MAJOR praise: Carolyn (older sis) and Maia (niece) came to church with us on Sunday for the first time! Maia asked to come to church and so Carolyn brought her. Our church has children's church for part of the service, so Maia bravely went to that on her own. What a special little girl. Alex (nephew) wanted to come too, but he decided at the last minute and couldn't get ready in time. Maybe he'll be there next week!

Have a great week everyone.