30 Weeks Pregnant and Haiti

Wow! I have been pregnant for 28 weeks and it feel like only 8 weeks! Seriously this has been one easy pregnancy. I thought Jake's was easy, but this one beats being pregnant with him by far! I haven't had any problems except for a little heartburn, but that one's my fault for eating acidic foods I know I should stay away from!
I would like to post a picture of my belly but I don't have one on hand right now so I will save that for when I am bigger!
What I would like to ask for all my readers to do for me over the next couple of week is to pray for Joe and me. We will be flying out to Haiti on December 28th and will be gone until Jan 5th. We have been planning this trip for a year now and when I found out I was pregnant in July I immediately changed my plans to go knowing I would be going into my 30th week of being pregnant and didn't want to risk catching some weird disease, get sick, being uncomfortable sleeping on a floor for 8 nights, or go into pre-term labor in a third world country!  After praying about it and reading half of "The Hold in our Gospel" I felt convicted by my fears and told God if he wanted me to go to Haiti to provide the funds for me to go and I would willingly go! I can lie! I was scared after I told him that because right away I felt God tell me, "really Melissa? That is it? All I have to do is give you the money to go and you will go? Done!" Ahhhhhhh! Thankfully I am not scared anymore! I just know I am going to miss my son like crazy!
I am most excited about the company we will be traveling with! There are only 5 of us going but two of them we hiked many miles with on the AT and haven't seen them since before we finished the trail. We love them dearly and ask for you to pray for them as well. I know God is going to work in some pretty powerful ways for all of us and hopefully in even more ways for the people we will be helping! I am unsure of all the details as far as what exactly we will be doing while we are there but that doesn't really matter because whatever it is will be for the Kingdom and we are excited to help in anyway we can! I hope to update you while there but I know the internet service is very unstable so you may not hear form me until after we return. Thanks for your prayers!

working mom or stay at home mom?

Which one are you and why? I don't really need to know why but I just thought I'd start my blog with a question. I certainly don't care either way what one women decides vs. another when it comes to working, or staying at home with the kids. I do care what God thinks about my decisions and my reasoning behind staying at home with Jake.
I encourage you to take some time to read a blog I found yesterday that covers this topic so much better than I ever could. Even if you aren't married and don't have kids yet I still encourage you to read because one day you probably will be married and with children. The bloggers name is Kristi and she lives in Oregon and has 5 kids, 3 of those being 4 year old triplets! She has been married to her husband for 12 years and has been a stay at home mom for the last 11 years. She loves the Lord and strives to serve him in the way God has created her to live as a wife and mom. I was glued to her post like a fly on fly paper! I am very passionate about being a mama! I love my one on one time with Jake and the same will be true for the next bundle of joy. I do not miss working a full time job one bit. The stresses that come with being a mom are so much more rewarding than earning a income for me.
I hope you take the time to read. Maybe you can share your thoughts with me about it, so long as we can be civil in our words.
She also has some other great posts about parenting and marriage etc. I hope you get the chance to browse a little on her site.
I love to read on the thoughts of other moms, especially those who have been a mom much longer than a few years, have older kids and have had a happy successful marriage for 10 plus years. I have a much easier time taking her words to heart than someone not as experienced in the mommy department. I only say that because I know that one moms opinion over another doesn't make them an expert in parenting and marriage but it does say a lot when you see how successful one is because they cares nothing more than how God views her and her family. We are all learning and we all make mistakes because we are human, but that doesn't excuse us from modeling what the Bible teaches to others and especially our own kids!

Here are the links for you:
http://www.courageoushomekeeping.com/featured/is-it-a-sin-to-work-outside-the-home-part-1/
http://www.courageoushomekeeping.com/featured/is-it-a-sin-to-work-outside-the-home-part-2/
http://www.courageoushomekeeping.com/featured/is-it-a-sin-to-work-outside-the-home-part-3/
http://www.courageoushomekeeping.com/featured/is-it-a-sin-to-work-outside-the-home-part-3/
http://www.courageoushomekeeping.com/featured/is-it-a-sin-to-work-outside-the-home-part-4/
http://www.courageoushomekeeping.com/featured/is-it-a-sin-to-work-outside-the-home-part-5/

Cookies Favorites

I plan to bake several different types of cookies for the holidays. I better get on it since Christmas is right around the corner. Here is what I plan to make!
Carmels 
Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
Ginger Cookies
Peanut Butter Balls (Buck Eyes)
Christmas Holly Wreaths (my favorite and so simple) Except I add 1/2 tsp of almond flavor to mine
I have already made the Holly Cookies! One down 4 to go! I have never made carmels before, or any other type of candy so it will be more of an experiment for me.
Now if I could only get on top of my Christmas shopping for Joe. I am such a procrastinator when it comes to Christmas!

So much for a good nights rest

Instead of ranting about my terrible nights sleep on Facebook I decided I would rant a little on my blog just because I have nothing else I want to write about at this moment and my son is sitting next to me on the couch watching Baby Santa, eating Cherrios and acting as if he had nothing to do with my terrible night! Grrrrrrr.
Joe and I headed to Anderson, IN(our previous place of residency) to speak with a lady about our house we have been trying to sell. She really wants to live there for the rest of her life so this could possibly be our buyer! Anyway, after a great conversation with her and a fantastic dinner at our favorite mexican joint we headed home to watch The Office and wash and cut up the two deer that Joe killed last week. 10pm rolled around and I was feeling tired but continued to help Joe for a while longer knowing that if I was at least in bed by 11pm I would get a decent 7-8 hours of sleep before Jake woke up.
Think again! I love my son a bunch, but when there is no reason for him to wake up at 2am and keep me up until 4am and then wake up again at 6am, sometimes I just wish my baby monitor would break in the middle of the night so I didn't have any way of hearing him. I kept thinking he had pooped, or thrown up(the flu is going around like mad around here), or that he was cold. I think he just had a bad case of the "be a pain the butt so mom doesn't get any rest" bug! Well it is now 8am and he is acting perfectly fine! What the crap! I lost 4 hours of sleep for what? I have MOPS in an hour and now I am not sure I should go because he lost a good 2-3 hours of sleep and if he is coming down with something I don't want him to pass it on or end up throwing up the nursery at church. Decisions, decisions! Being a mom of a toddler and at the same time pregnant is EXHAUSTING! Can I get an AMEN!

Some fun pictures of me and Jake playing together. Helps remind me there are more good days then bad being a mom!

Christmas Traditions to get started on

What kid doesn't just love this time of year. The lights, the Christmas tree, Santa Claus(well I never cared for him), presents, baby Jesus birthday, Christmas movies and music, and who can forgot all the sweets! Gotta love this time of year. I have been so rotten at keeping Christmas traditions alive since getting married. Not because I don't like traditions, but I haven't felt a deep desire to do all the work when it was just Joe and me. Now that we have a one year old my joy of traditions is working it's way back into my heart. I hope to pass on that same joy to Jake for family traditions. It is such a peaceful time of year for me, aside from all the parties and meals we share with others, I love to sit on my couch with a cup of tea, all the lights turned off, except for our tree and village and enjoy the peaceful glow that fills the room.
I researched Advent Calendars last night for a few hours, trying to find the perfect calendar either to buy or make. I am not a crafty person at heart. I want to be so I think I have pretty much settle on making my own Advent Calendar Banner for next year. Click here for the picture Advent Calendar
I am very excited about it. I have no idea how to sew but lucky for me I have several friends that sew and my mom, and mother-in-laws to help me get started on it. To go along with the calendar I am keeping my eyes out for a good Advent devotional book for kids that we can read to Jake.
I also really want to purchase a nice Nativity Set. Not the tacky kids ones that won't break, but one I can put on the mantle of my gas fireplace. I love willow tree but I will never want to spend that much money on one. They must be crazy! 300 plus bucks just to be displayed for a month!
Last but not least we WILL be hanging outside lights on the house next year! Every year I don't do it I regret it and I will not deprive my kids of not being able to enjoy watching their dad hang lights out in the freezing cold while we watch from the front window drinking our hot chocolate! Ha Ha! Just kidding Joe! My sister's and I did that to our dad a few times he waited a few weeks too long to hang them when the weather was nice out. Gotta love Dads! They will do just about anything for their little girls! Thanks Dad for filling up our hearts with so much love just with hanging a few lights on the house. Thanks Mom for putting up with the Christmas crabbies each year when we would decorate the tree and bake/decorate cookies. Loved every minute of it! I am sure my time is coming when I will have the crabbies because my kids aren't cooperating!
What kind of family traditions did you participate in as a kid and do you do those same things with your kids?