my hero..

as a very pregnant woman, this gas shortage really got the best of me. yesterday, jamil told me to go ahead and put some gas in our van. there was suppose to be some up the street from us. by the time i got there they were sold out. i was between a half and quarter of a tank. not desperate but still would like to have more than that. our thought is we really don't need to be on empty if i go into labor and then we are put in a panic situation and can't find gas anywhere and not have enough to get to the hospital. i decided to head the other direction to get gas at another station. traffic was backed up down the road, but i decided to wait. by the time i was in the parking lot of the station - they were covering the pumps. i waited nearly 30 minutes and nothing. i tried to more stations and they were out too. i was in tears, sobbing on the phone with jamil. my hormones plus this ridiculous situation got the best of me.

this morning, my heroic hubby got up extra early and went out on a gas search!!! he heard that a lot of stations are turning off their pumps during the day and cutting them back on in the morning. when he left this morning, it was dark, windy, rainy and cold. but he returned within the hour and had found some gas for us!!! just having the security of having gas and being nearly 37 weeks prego was such a relief and i felt so thankful!! what a great husband! i appreciate what he did this morning so much. i know it was just a little thing but it really meant a lot!

random thoughts...

i think this pregnancy is affecting my brain. i can barely write in a complete sentence or thought this morning. so i think i will just put it in a list form today... i love lists, so how fitting!!!



~ yard sale is done and over with and i never know if they are truly worth the time and energy. but it did bring in some cash to get us through the week - that is a good thing. bad thing is my house was a disaster from my focus being on the yard sale.



~ this week i am working on repairing the house from it's messiness and doing laundry, on top of the regular laundry i have baby clothes to wash as well as some fall clothing



~ fall clothing....wow, where have i been? the weather turned and i wasn't prepared for it. on sunday morning, i realized we were at that point where sending jordyn to church in a strappy sundress and white sandals wasn't going to work. so i will be doing some fall clothes shopping SOON! usually it would have been done by now???



~ i am not complaining about the weather - it is an awesome welcome relief!!!!



~ another welcome relief would be to have baby jaelyn sooner than later!! i think she will be here early... but hopefully she will wait until the week after next. weird to say that, but we have some big things going on this week and next week!



~ this week we have a big day on thursday that has been covered in prayer that i can't wait to share. it all has to do with our sun stand still prayer from last year. let's just say that our prayer is being answered in an amazing way and i will unveil the story eventually. actually i might have to write a book....



~ i have several dear friends who are throwing me a baby shower on saturday - that i am so looking forward to. i have a hard time being the center of attention. i do better at throwing showers and making the guest of honor feel special. i don't do as well at receiving it. i am so humbled at the generosity of my friends throwing it and those attending!

those are my random thoughts for the day!

going... going... gone?

during the last few weeks (months?), i have been "nesting" like crazy. i have had this huge desire to clean out and get rid of stuff in every area of our house. i have wanted to organize what is left and make sure everything in our house has it's own home! well, as i started to clean out each closet and drawer, things started to majorily pile up in our garage. all that stuff was starting to take over the space and leaving a very small space to park our van and a small path to the door. we were able to get rid of some of the stuff in the garage by selling it on craig's list, giving it away or just trashing or burning it. but it still left us with lots of stuff. so a few weeks ago, as i was telling amy about my stress of what to do with all this stuff, most being clothing. we decided to join efforts and have a yard sale! this will make our third or fourth annual yard sale.

are we crazy??? at this stage of life we are preparing for a yard sale. she has a full plate with her new babies and will. i am about to give birth in the next few weeks, but yes both of our needs to purge and organize has led us to a yard sale this saturday at my house!

we have all kinds of stuff, a lot of baby and kid's stuff. i know that sounds weird because we both still have babies and kids. but we just have too much stuff. we both have a ton of clothing that our kids have outgrown and is in great shape. after not having much luck at a consignment shop in town and no energy to tote THIRTEEN bins of clothing to another, i am gladly giving away stuff to friends and then selling the rest!!! if you need some fall clothing, come on over, i can probably help you out!!!!

i can envision a clean neat garage, everything in it's place and plenty of room to park a van and get FOUR kids in and out of it!!! with any luck we will make enough room in the garage to bring in a deep freezer and then i can move onto the next project.... making dinners to fill the freezer for when jaelyn comes!!!!

so for the next few days we will be busy busy preparing for a yard sale!!! stop by if you are out and about on saturday morning!!!!!


check out our other blog for an update on baby jaelyn!!!!!

beach and birthday weekend....

today, i am trying to get back into the swing of things and attempting to tackle real life! oh, it is so hard to face the reality of what i was able to hide away from for a few days!

on thursday morning of last week, myself along with seven wonderful ladies headed to carolina beach!!!! yes, i had a beach weekend with no children. it was such an awesome time. we started planning this trip several months ago and as it got closer i was unsure if i would be able to attend. obstacles attempted to keep me from it but God had a different plan and he knocked them down!!

this trip was definitely what i needed. i was able to rest and relax the whole time- even though we stayed up way too late each night. i laid on the beach without keeping an eye on kids or getting sprayed in the face with sand or having to trek back to the house for a potty break. i ate all of my meals and snacks without sharing or fixing one for someone else. i had no lists or no schedules to follow, we just did what we wanted when we wanted to do it.

i haven't ever experienced such a trip. there was no agenda and no schedule. there was no tension or anxiety. it was a completely wonderful time. on our drive the weather looked questionable and rain was predicted. but as soon as we hit wilmington the clouds parted and the sun was shining. we had three days of sun!!!! we had three days of laughter. i haven't laughed so hard in such a long time. i thought i might go into labor.

words can't even begin to describe how unique this group of women is. we all just get along so well and the friendships are easy and low maintenance. each friend brings a different dynamic to the group and we enjoy each other so much!!!

i feel so blessed to have these ladies in my life!!! they were so sweet to think of me and honor me this past weekend. they celebrated my birthday by taking me out to dinner on friday night! and then when we returned home they surprised me with gifts for the baby!!! a baby shower and birhday surprise all in one!! i was so humbled and honored that they did all of this for me!!

when we returned home on saturday evening, i was sad to see our much needed and anxiously awaited trip come to an end. but i really did miss my family. it was so good to see jamil and my babies!!! my kids greeted me with tons of handmade cards and a birthday present!!!!

jamil arranged for my kids to go to my in laws on saturday night and we went out for dinner for my birthday. wow - a beach weekend and then out to dinner with the best guy in town!! we went to pf changs and had a wonderful time together!

yesterday, my kids slept in until after 9:00 am!! woohoo! we got up and headed to the best church around!! after church, we came home and relaxed while jamil finished up at church. and then when he got home we headed to my parent's house!! they had us all over to celebrate my birthday. we had dinner, cake, ice cream and more presents!!

it has been such a wonderful, relaxing, long weekend and now it is monday morning and i am adjusting to the real world; kids off to school, list making, planning a trip to the grocery store, laundry, balancing the checkbook, running the dishwasher, preparing for a yard sale etc. it's so good to be home.

update on pregnancy...

i just wrote a post on baby j's blog with a quick update on the pregnancy. warning: the post is very whiny and not at all uplifting. it just tells about how i am feeling today... check it out.