The Big Debut!

Well, not that big, because I don't have any pictures right now! I need internet at home and basically to get my poop in a group! Turns out the library won't let you upload photo's to their computers! :P Go figure!!!

SO..... GABRIEL NEALE COLEMAN!!!!!!!!!!! Weighing in at 8 lbs. 2 oz. 21 inches long of pure adorable sweetness! Seriously, he's the sweetest, cutest, most adorable, most delicious, most perfect baby in the whole entire world - everyone tells me, so I must not be prejudice! :) (At least, they'd better tell me that if they know what's good for them! HA)

We went in to be induced last Tuesday morning at 2am. I was 0 dilated, will try not to go into all the gory details, but anyway, here goes.... I was given the prolactyn(?) gel and the contractions started a little more than I had already been experiencing. The whole while, I'd planned on going naturally, then during that time of NO SLEEP, I was figuring out how to get pain medicine REALLY fast! In fact the nurse came up to me to ask me what my pain plan was and I told her I didn't have one, but I was figuring one out really fast! :) So by 8am, the Dr. came in to break my water, I was about a 1 dilation - holy cow - 9 more to go?!?!? Kill me now! So then by noon, I was about at a 3 and begging for an epidural! We had an amazing labor and delivery nurse - seriously, I couldn't have asked for someone better, she basically camped out in my room! She got an anesthesiologist in there for the epidural with contractions coming about every 5 minutes at like a pain level 0-10? well, I'd say about a 55! The epidural was a rough go. You have to be so still and he couldn't get it. I guess Sam said I get poked about 10 times. He even nearly passed out! Finally it took around 1:15 and I fell asleep immediately - this is after about 2 days of not sleeping! At 1:45, I was awakened to put an internal contraction monitor in and the nurse decided to check and I was immediately at a 10!!! Holy Cow! All it took was a half an hour rest! Go figure, having babies wasn't quite as hard as I thought! ....Or so I thought! So it's time to push - Sam, got your camera??? The time is here!!! I was ready - couldn't feel a thing - amazing!!! So I started pushing at 2. and pushing....and pushing... and pushing.... and pushing... At 3:30, the Dr. came in and said that the baby's head was stuck and turned in the wrong direction and they couldn't even get in there far enough to get him turned around. She suggested a C-section. I was devastated. This was NOT turning out AT ALL how I'd planned. But I'm flexible. I told her I'd like to keep pushing for another half an hour... She agreed and let me go. I went for another 45 minutes and the little guy didn't even budge! So now, it was off to prepare for a C-section... The little guy - Gabe - was born at 5:05pm and he was just beautiful! Sam followed him right away to get cleaned up and got to spend the first good hour with his son, holding him and loving him...It was so special for him!! I was recovering... and having a hard go of it! Turns out, to make a long story short, I'd lost a lot of blood and continued to do so all during recovery. My hemoglobin plummeted down to a 6.7 and is only now starting to climb. It's a long road, I've noticed. Sure that was only a week ago - but seriously!!! It's so hard to "take it easy!" But when I look at little Gabe and see his precious bright eyes looking around and stopping to focus on my face as I feed him, or his dad's voice as he loves on him and talks to him - it's all worth it!

So all that to say - please continue to pray for us! We brought Gabe home on Friday and have been learning all about him since! He's already changing so much, getting bigger, more alert (don't know how that's possible!) and he's just beautiful! I can't wait to introduce him to my mom and dad, his namesake - Neale, in November! I've been feeling extremely tired and like I said, having a hard time taking it easy - I feel like I should be able to do all the things from before! I've been way more emotional than I like. In fact, it's a good thing I'm sharing this via internet, or else you'd have to pick through the sobbing tears to figure out what I'm trying to say - and I'm at the library!!! Sad, isn't it?!

On a side note, which should be more fore front than side note, my husband is seriously perhaps the most amazing man in the world. Now I realize that I've made some pretty big calls all during this post, but it's my blog, I'm allowed to! But seriously, I can't even explain to you how well he takes care of me and little Gabriel and our home and everything! He's still got his art show coming up in a few weeks, which is a BIG deal and he's got a lot of things to do for that, but he's just so amazing! There is no way I could do it without him! So just a plug for most amazing husbands in the world - if you've got one, stop right now and run to him and give him a big kiss and tell him he's the most amazing man in the world! 2nd only to Sam Coleman! I plan on doing this as soon as I see my man!

Well, we've been home for three nights so far and we've had two "off" nights and one "on" night. I'm praying that tonight is an "on" night! We've been spending our days figuring out what we did wrong yesterday and changing our actions so that it doesn't happen tomorrow! I have a feeling I'm going to be spending the rest of my life in this particular state! I have learned that nuks are evil - even if you only use them for 1 hour. I've figured out that just because babies are super cute when they sleep - don't let them do it for as long as they want! I've learned that even though newborns don't have teeth - they can still bite! Ouch!!! I've learned that you want to keep the hospital id bracelet's on for a couple days after coming home, just to make sure that your precious gift wasn't switched at the door for an alien child! I've learned that having a lactation consultant for a good friend is indespensible! Three cheers for St. Aleycia Gerlach! There are a lot more things that I've learned, but it turns out the library is about to close and I need to go now. I was just informed there is an hour time limit per day on the machine and I'm getting an evil look!!! Will check in later!

Feeling overwhelmed in the Tundra,

Love, Sarah

Alright - time is up!

I cannot continue the Giveaway contest, because #1 - we are heading in to the hospital tonight/tom. morning. And the Dr. said tomorrow is the big day! So once we actually see the whites of little Coleman's eyes, I will check the entries and see who picked the correct day and do a drawing with those particular people and I'll be contacting you with the choice of your prize!!! I'm still praying that there is a possibility of those of you who chose today - contractions started last night. I don't know if they are the "real" ones or the Braxton Hicks kind, but either way - I hope that when I go in tonight, things will have progressed far beyond what they expect and we'll have baby out sooner than ever! Keep praying!!! I did have some pictures I was going to post for you today, but Sam took my camera out duck hunting this morning and so I don't have it with me. So stay tuned for lots of posts!!! I still haven't finished the nursery, so I didn't want to post those pictures yet, but hopefully we'll be able to get that done pretty soon. I wanted our chalk board to up to welcome the new guy, but alas, not done. Too busy. But we will get it up, one of these days, I promise! :)

Other than that, my mom started her radiation. Please keep her in your prayers. I think it's going well so far, today is her third day into it!

And on another note! Sam has decided to postpone school until next semester! So we are very excited about that and Sam has a few weeks to focus on his paintings and get those ready to go for his big show. A load was really taken off when he made that decision and so yay!!!

Other than that, I guess we are all as ready as we can get for Baby Coleman to arrive. Will be posting stories, pictures and news asap - make sure to tune in!!!!

Getting ready for a new little man in the Tundra,

Love, Sarah

Thursday Morning!

Good Morning Folks,

Just wanted to stop by and say so far, no baby. Things are progressing, but slowly at this point. Everyone has been giving me pointers on how to make the baby come sooner, but frankly, I think he got wind of life OUTSIDE with the womb with Mom and Dad and he's decided he might like to stay INSIDE for a bit longer! :)

I did want to show you a couple senior pictures - now, just remember, these are straight out of the camera, but they were just too good not to share... I'll be working on editing them here pretty soon, so keep in touch for more!!!

Before.....ahhhh, what a cutie patootie!


and after..........hahahahahahahahahahahaha



I'm sorry, I couldn't resist! He totally fell in by accident! I love it!!!

Hope that brought a smile to your face like it did mine!

Waiting for a baby in the Tundra,

Sarah

Waiting to find out if I won some amazing boots....

Ever the optimist. Trying to win something on Pioneer Woman! One day, I will succeed and I'm afraid it might just be one of the biggest highlights in my life!!! Is that sad? Wait. Don't answer that. Guess what? It's POW WOW weekend - do you realize what this means? Only the biggest yard sale weekend of the YEAR!!!! Nevermind that we haven't gone to a yard sale the rest of the summer. We decided we have too much junk in our house as it is and we don't need anymore. I did a little the beginning of the summer looking for some baby treasures and that's what I plan on doing this weekend! I'm not exactly sure what I need, but don't you worry, when I find it, I'LL KNOW! My one brother in law, Judah, thinks it's all junk, but my other brother in law - the kindred spirit, Charlie, he sees it all for what it really is - a treasure!!!! Sorry Judah, but I'm sure you'll come around one of these days! :)

Well, we are on countdown for a lot of things. #1 - Rally Sunday, that's this Sunday and that means Sunday School starts back up again. So after being gone from church for too many Sundays to count, we'll be back, full fledged! #2 - Rally Wednesday is this coming Wednesday night (16th) which is the start of Confirmation! We are switching things up quite a bit and so Sam's got a lot on his plate right now. But it'll be nice when that is over. The first one - you just never know how it's gonna go, but we have a lot of people that have put a lot of time into this service and I'm pretty sure it's going to knock everyone's socks off. The only dilemma I have is that my Women's Bible Study is at the exact same time. So I just don't know - I'm so torn. I need the fellowship, but I might have to skip the first one just to gain the momentum of the back to school spirit!!! We'll see. I'll keep you posted. #3 - Thursday night (17th) starts Sam's league Men's Volleyball. Yes, he signed up for a weekly league to play V-ball with the boys and have a Bible study afterwards. Good for them. That goes till December or something. #4 - Friday night (18th) is our back to school kick off for Jr. High Crossfire. #5 - Sam is starting back to school with Liberty Theological Seminary. I don't know when his class starts exactly. #6 - It's time for the annual Papa's Pumpkin Patch family fun day! Which crazy enough, Sam is in charge of! But he says that he's pretty much handed those responsibilities over to someone else, but we'll see. #7 - Sam's got a big commission art piece that he has finally started on and I pray he feels like he's got a good start, because I think it looks great! Don't know exactly when that's due. #8 - Sam's also got a one man art show the last week of October! Hmmm.... I should be working on some invites for that. At least getting some labels ready for that. Thanks for the reminder. He just has to get 30 originals ready to put up... No big deal, right? #9 - We have 2 senior and 1 family photo session to edit and 2 more seniors to take during the Fall. #10 - Oh, I almost forgot - we have to squeeze the birth of our first born son in there somewhere between #6 and #7. So you can see, we've got a lot going on. Any prayers you've got to spare, we'd sure appreciate it!!! And winning the oh so cool cowgirl boots on Pioneer Woman sure would help! But I'm not going to hold my breath! (Pretty much winning anything on Pioneer Woman would help!)

I know I need to add a few more pictures, I will. I actually got the nursery straighten up yesterday. It looks pretty close to being ready to welcome a new person! I've got laundry washed, books ready to read, diapers ready to put on, and who knows what else? I don't really have a clue what I need for a new little baby, but we'll figure it all right? I've decided that you can really get inundated by all the "things" to do to prepare for a little person. You've got people telling you that "life is never going to be the same" "you'd better sleep now - you'll never sleep again" "you've got to change everything that you ever knew" "you'll never have fun again" "this little tiny person is going to take over your life" "your whole entire world will be turned upside down" "Sam will finally have to grow up" "you'll never have peace and quiet for the rest of your life" "you won't even know what hit you" "you better do whatever you want to now, ie, travel, etc. because you won't be able to do it again for the next 18+ years" "you'd better get out of your system everything you ever wanted or hoped to do it because now you have to do whatever your kid wants to do" - but.... "it'll all be worth it." Yeah right. No wonder parents are super heroes. It's been about 9+ months to get all of this hysteria out of my system and actually look forward to meeting this little guy. I have to remember all the advice is coming from other people with other lives and they aren't me. Sure, I'm sure some of it is legitimate, but I think we'll figure out how to adjust to our new little addition. There might be bumps along the way, but I have an amazing husband, who is surprisingly a lot more grown up than a lot of people give him credit for. And most of all, we have a God that loves us more than anything and has already filled our life with lots of loving people that have already offered to come along and help us. He's given us this little blessing for a short while to raise in the nurture and admonition in the Lord, and we will do our darndest to make sure that happens, even though I know we'll screw up - we always do! But God is bigger than us! So that's about where I stand these last few weeks as we look forward to meeting our new little guy! (PS. I know you think I'm kidding about all that advice, but it's true, I heard every bit of it and more at least once in the last nine months!)

On another note - please continue to pray for my mom. Her radiation starts on 09-22-09. And she'll have it for 5 days a week for at least 6 weeks. So if you work out the math there, it means, we're hoping she'll finish up before Thanksgiving and that also means, no time to come out when the baby is born. We will be heading back to VA for T-giving as we have a lot of family coming from all over to meet our little fella and fellowship. So there is no sense in Mom and Dad coming out. That also means our projects get put on hold for another year probably. It's quite disappointing, but I want mom to get better and healed up! So please pray for her during this time as well. Thank you!!!!

Sorry for all the writing and not so many pictures... Pictures will definitely be coming! Thanks for your patience!

Fall is on it's way in the Tundra,

Sarah

Updates on.....Life......

Well, here's how the story goes. I don't know when was the last time I updated you on life. But I just had another ultra sound yesterday and the tech just gave me a picture, not a cd, so I was trying to scan it in so that you could see my 37 week old baby! But the scan did not turn out too good, so you are going to have to trust me on this one - he is the cutest baby that you've ever seen in the whole entire world! He's up to 6lbs. 12oz. give or take half a lb. or so. That means in the next three weeks, he may gain up to a half a lb. each week coming into the world at a whopping 8 and a half lbs. Of course, that's all speculation. Nothing in this world is for sure! Well, maybe a couple things, but I'm not really going to wax philosophical on you right now. That just wouldn't be right on this absolutely perfect ND day! What can I say - it might take a while for summer to get to the Tundra, but when it does - watch out!!! My computer registers 78 degrees right now and I'm wilting away inside.

I started MOPS this morning. I know a few of you may think I'm being a little too premature, but a girl has got to prepare herself, you know? Anyway, speaking of all this baby-ness - I'm assuming I can make this big announcement since she did on Facebook - and we all know that when the announcement goes on Facebook - it's official!!! Sam's sister Katie is expecting a little guy/gal!!! That's right - the beginning of April will be welcoming another little peanut into the Coleman Clan. How exciting is that???? She's 10 weeks now and ready for the morning sickness to subside, but otherwise perfectly excited and happy about the new little life growing in her! So congrats to Katie and Mike Montplaisir in the upcoming birth of #1!!!

Well, I just got a call from the Love of my life - by the way, he's got a lot on his plate right now - if you could say a little prayer for him, I'd really appreciate it! Anyway, he's on his way to pick me up - so I'll check in again later!!! Have a great day - hope yours is as beautiful as mine!

Soaking up the Sun in the Tundra,

Sarah

Well....

for those of you who voted on my baby's due date past Sept - I don't think you are going to be right... The dr. just told me yesterday she wasn't going to let me go much past my due date! So if you can be praying - I need little Baby Coleman to come sometime between 9/17 and 9/29! Thanks! It might sound crazy, but I don't really want to be induced and I want the little guy to be as healthy as possible!!! There is the latest on my account! :) Getting ready - we picked up the crib last night. So today I'll be working on laundry and trying to get the rest of the nursery set up! Pictures yet to come!

Getting ready in the Tundra,

Sarah

I'm trying...

Sometimes, it's so frustrating not to have the time to do the things you WANT to do, do you know what I mean? And then when frustrating things like your computer is super slow.... Oh well... I need to get some photos uploaded!

Anyway, this is what I was busy doing last night while Sam was out hunting clay pigeons. And from what I heard, he only found half of them! But good for him, he had a great time and is getting in practice for hunting season, although I think Tonto needs more practice than Sam!!! I don't know much about hunting for clay pigeons, but something tells me, it'd be pretty hard to sniff them out and nearly impossible for T to retrieve them anyway, so I guess it's all good! :) So here's the nursery. It's coming along. I would have taken more pictures, but this is the only section I've gotten done so far.



I think the red is super cute and I'm so glad that Sam encouraged us to go with the brighter colors.

I have a bunch more pictures and video footage from the weekend at the Hinemans, let me see if I have a couple minutes to get them on here. Actually, since my computer has been acting up, I don't. So you'll have to tune in tomorrow and hopefully things will be cooperating better!

Tune in later!

Summer has finally arrived in the Tundra! (or maybe it's Indian Summer - a little early, don't you think?)

Love, Sarah

Updates....

Well, just so you know, there was no one at my house painting our steps in the rain. Sam ran the "Homeless" fella's situation by everyone at church and they told him he'd be crazy to bring him home and give him a job and that not a one of them were coming to the morgue to identify his body and I guess that made Sam second guess his decision. So there you have it - me waxing philosophical on my husband's sensitive heart and the church shooting him down. Oh well. I still take you back to the heart motivation....

I was running late this morning and wanted to get pictures of the rocking chair I covered and the valence that I made yesterday. Our nursery is coming along nicely. We finally picked up a dresser. Just need to get the crib now and things will start to be underway!!! It's definitely coming together and it's already so bright and cheery. I suppose soon, I'll have to start washing clothes and get ready for the little guys big debut! When I think about the whole new adventure getting ready to come and all that goes along with it, it's very intimidating, but when I focus on the little guy and just getting to meet him and know that he is half of me and half of the love of my life - our very own, lent to us for a short while by a great God who trusts us enough to send him, well, I just get so stinking excited!

My mom just called and she has a meeting with the Radiation Dr. in a couple of weeks to start her radiation...Please pray that all that works out. I feel very confident in her decision and the Lord has brought confirmation after confirmation to her regarding her own decision and so I'm very thankful for that! So most likely her radiation treatments are going to overlap Baby Coleman being born - well, maybe, we'll see.... So please continue to pray for this situation! Thanks a tons!!!!

Well, I'm off to the Lake this weekend. Looks like things are going to warm up in the Tundra - we're looking at 80's on Saturday and 90's on Sunday. We'll be back in time for church on Sunday, because our church is getting together with a bunch of other churches, where it's called "The Gathering." All of our churches get together at an outside amphitheater and worship together. It's quite cool! Well, that's about all going on in the Tundra this weekend!

Looking forward to sharing some new pictures on Monday!

Have a great weekend!

Livin' it up in the Tundra!

Sarah

If I could be so faithful as this in attending the YMCA!

Anyway, that's a side note.... Guess what? I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but.... My dad is a fugitive of the law! Ok, not really, but he did tell me about getting stopped by a cop for the 3rd time in his 67 years of living - did ya hear me??? Is that impressive or what?! I don't really think my mom has actually gotten stopped all that many times either but that's because she's faster than the radars that the cops use! ;) And for the record, my dad didn't get stopped for speeding - it's what you might hear tell of - a California stop; a rolling stop... Yeah, isn't that insane, so he's waiting to call to see how much the ticket it, but overall, he thinks it's going to be no less than $70. Can you believe that??? Sam says it's one more reason not to move to VA! It's true, we'd probably go bankrupt - although Sambo has definitely gotten better with his driving skills. Lots of people may argue with me on that point, but trust me!

In other news, my mom is doing well! She continues to thank the Lord and others for praying for her. She's healing well and trusting the Lord to take care of her. She got word that she is eligible for some testing that will tell whether chemo will even help her, so she's hoping that will come back saying no. I'm getting excited to go and visit and I know that they are getting excited for their trip to Alaska! Wish I could go as well!

We had a few days of McVBS last week - which means, VBS down on the Reservation at McLaughlin. That was really good. I actually took a day off of work to head down there and help, it was a really fun time actually! Then this weekend, Sam had a car wash and a Family Fun Night fundraiser for kids going to Guatemala and it was a blast.

I'm interrupting this newsy post for some thunder! Don't you just love days like this? They make you want to stay in bed a little longer, true, but it's only 57 degrees and rainy. It makes you not feel bad for staying inside and working on some much needed projects, like painting the nursery, because ready or not, your baby is going to come. And it would be helpful to at least have the room painted if nothing else! :)

This week, we are taking it a little easier. Have a meeting tonight - birth class #2, much to Samuel's dismay, tomorrow night and then he heads out on Friday for Minneapolis. I'm not sure whether I am going to go yet. Too much to do here. But it should be a good time. I'm really thankful for this time of rest though. It's much needed!

Well, I should wrap things up!

Enjoying the rain in the Tundra,

Sarah

Just to ease your minds....

after much agony and mind altering, though provoking deliberation - I've come to a conclusion. I just have to change some stuff. #1 - the bed has got to go. It's too big and just takes up too much space, so in it's place, we'll be looking for a fold out couch or daybed... #2 - Got to paint. I realized the tan just drains me - it's like the most boring of all colors - it's not even a color - it's just tan. So we've got a bunch of yellow left over from another project, we'll be painting it yellow and that way, we can incorporate whatever bright colors we want! Sam picks red for the accent color. So that's how that goes. I went to JoAnn's for some fabric inspiration and didn't find any for the crib skirt. But praise the Lord, He's provided a crib! We just have to go and pick it up! Another wonderful family from church has finished having kids and they are ready to get their crib out of their house! God is so good to us for providing so much! Without the bed in there, I'll have room to make a book/toy section, still have room for a rocking chair (which I have to recover) and a dresser! It's coming together quite a bit better than yesterday! But I still would appreciate your thoughts. I have a perfect space above my closet that I think I'll write a verse with maybe some bumble bees - whatever is bright and colorful - it's definitely jiving quite a bit better with me!

On another note - My mom just called and her surgery is scheduled for July 1st. I have a few prayer requests:

1. Peace
2. Wisdom
3. That they will still be able to go to Alaska in August.
4. Quick Recovery
5. And however else the Lord leads you to pray!

Thanks!

Other than that, still looking for opinions from all you experts out there - should I have bumper pads on the crib? I've read a couple different opinions on the subject. But I'm going to make them, so I need to figure out if I need to worry about it at all! :)

Enjoying the most perfect beautiful day in the Tundra,

Sarah

PS. Just for the record - I beat Paige, Tiffany, Bridget, Erik, Sam and Morgan at Ultimate Solitaire last night. Ok, so it's true that most of them had never played before, but I've got to take my moment. Thank you, thank you very much!

HELP!

Ok folks - I really need your help on this one!

I'm trying to figure out our nursery. We already have a full size bed with a quilt on it in the room and are not planning on taking it out. (We need it for guests and I don't have anywhere to store a full size bed in the mean time.) I don't especially want to change to bedding set, but it's a little blah. It's got pinks, mauves, blues and probably oatmeal color is the back ground. So kind of blah. I wanted to work with it and do kind of an old fashioned prairie school theme. I was going to put up a large chalk board to put messages and scripture verses with colored chalk. But Sam thinks that is too blah. He thinks our baby needs some bright stimulating colors. I don't disagree, but I'm having kind of a difficult time figuring out what to do. I could turn the quilt backwards - the backside is the oatmeal background with dark blue outlined flowers. And then throw some red in there. Red is kind of the accent color all the way through our house. Here's another thing - the walls are kind of blah too - tan.

OK - bumper pads? Yes or no?

This sounds awful, I know, but I want to do minimal work as I think that once our baby gets old enough, we'll want to decorate however he wants to decorate, so I don't want to do elaborate stuff only to get painted over later on.

The most important things I want to include are scriptures for the walls. Beautiful art. Lots of access to books. And all the necessary parts.

Discombobulated in the Tundra!

Love, Sarah

Good Morning!

Well, I just wanted to let you know how my last week went!

First of all, we started out taking 30 kids up to Lake Metigoshe! It's always a fun trip because it's pretty relaxing. We take 6 canoes and we have a boat, we set up camp for our tents and food and just hang out. The kids are pretty excited to go fishing or canoeing, or just hang out! We make them take a shower on Wednesday and we take at least one trip into town for ice cream during the week! Does life seriously get any better than that????

The first day we got there was pretty cold and rainy. Well, drizzly. But we got everything set up. I was lamenting on the fact that I didn't bring more clothes! In fact, WHAT WAS I THINKING?! Oh yeah, I'm pregnant and can't fit into most of my clothes, that's right. Anyway, I survived. We brought an air mattress, I shared a tent with two other people that got settled onto the air mattress first because I wanted to be close to the door - I knew I'd have to make at least one trip out in the night, if you know what I mean! Well, by the time I got settled, I had a good 12 inches - which worked because I have to sleep on my side anyway, then my hip started throbbing and one of my bed mates started curling up as she slept, which gave me about 10 or less inches! So as I turned over, I fell off the edge of the mattress... Now I was stuck on the flat ground pinned between the door and an air mattress. And it was COLD - I mean, like Burrrrrr - cold!!!! So I thought to myself - "Self, what the heck are you doing here? Get up - the van has got to be more comfortable than this." So I was smart and listened to myself and got up and hiked up to the van to sleep the sleep of kings and queens on the last seat of a 15 passenger van...for the next 2 nights as well! It was like having a room to myself!

The weather kept getting warmer and warmer and so that made it really nice! Since we had such a large group, we had to divide them in half for our canoe trek into Canada. That was pretty nice, except paddling against the wind with 4th-6th graders definitely provides some challenge! It was really fun though - canoeing is definitely one my most favorite things in the world!

Well, we got back around 3pm on Thursday but by the time we got everything put away, including stuff and kids, we got home around 5pm. And like I said earlier, it was Judah's birthday! So Happy Birthday Judah! We had volleyball, pizza and friends to celebrate his big day! And that went to late. I was definitely wearing thin!

Oh, did I mention that I caught a head cold on the trip up to Metigoshe? I probably forgot that part! Still trying to get over it! So my energy was doubly low.

Then on Friday, we hung out with Katie and Mike who were in from Washington for the week and went rummage sale-ing. Then we went out on Mike's boat fishing/boating - it was a beautiful day! Then we needed to make it back in time for the boy's State Baseball Tourney Game #2 - not too much to say there, it was kind of a hard game and the boy's first loss of the season! That was really too bad! But then Judah and Charlie wanted to head out to the movie "Up" - the new Pixar movie - we are all pretty crazy about Pixar movies! Anyway, this was our only opportunity to see it with the boys for the next 2 weeks or so - we went and the theater was packed with all kinds of kids! In fact, we couldn't even find 4 seats together. So the boys went higher and Sam and I sat in the middle of some kids.

The continuation of this story makes it into the "Top 3 Most Embarrassing Moments" of my life. The sad thing is that 2 of them now happened in a movie theater! Anyway, did you catch the part where I was exhausted and moving like one more step was comparable to climbing Mt. Everest? Just in case you didn't catch that part, I just thought I'd make it a little clearer! Also, we needed to rush out of the movie theater because we were expecting weekend guests. Yes, on top of everything else! Sleeping in a car for 3 nights, going, going, going, head cold - and now I have the opportunity to sit in a theater - in the dark - with 3D glasses on. Well, "Up" was a great movie, but there were definitely some slow parts and here's the kicker. There was a point where the ENTIRE theater was quiet, not even talking on the movie and all of a sudden, I hear SNORING!!!!!! And the worse part, it was ME!!!!!! I woke myself up snoring during a cartoon! Does life get any more sad than that??? Sam just looked at me and we started laughing, I dared not look at the lady on the other side of me - Sam said she had been staring at me for a few minutes before. Embarrassing!! So anyway, after the movie, I asked the boys if they heard that annoying person snoring during the movie - they said No - Whew... I told them it was me - They had a laugh. At my expense. But oh well, what are you going to do? :)

Then we head out to meet our weekend guests and took them home and visited for a while. I think we got to bed by midnight - maybe. We had a nice breakfast on Saturday morning, and a drive, and a picnic and headed off to the final game of the boy's baseball Tourney. They ended up with 4th out of 8 for the State Finals! Yay for them! This is the first time they even made it to State, so I'd say they did a pretty darn good job! Then we all headed over to Katie's in-laws for a Salmon and Prawn dinner - some real seafood! Yuummmmmyyyy!!!! Got home late again and then Judah and some of his friends came over to celebrate his birthday again with some yummy cake - thanks to Bridget and Tiffany for the delicious Monkey bread - I just about put myself over the top! :)

Sunday dawned bright and clear - another beautiful day in the sunny Tundra! We had a great day - went to church, then out to lunch with Eric and Kat and then they headed out to start their long journey back to Alaska - it was so much fun having them - I wish they lived closer! But it was just so much fun having them! I hope they enjoyed it as much as us!

We started our Church V=ball league on Sunday night. We have lots of great players! I sat out because we were rotating so many in and it's more fun the more you get to play. But we won all three games! Hopefully that will put us in the top bracket! Usually what happens is they determine who goes in the lower bracket and top bracket based on the first week... But we usually have VBS so most of our people are gone for the first game and we usually loose, therefore getting down into the lower bracket. But we'll see. Charity has two volleyball teams! And that is fun, especially when we get to play each other! We are getting quite a collection of trophies piled up in Sam's office, so if anyone has a good idea of what to do with them, we are willing to take ideas!

Anyway, other than that, we are getting back into the routine of things. Now that June is here, Sam is getting ready for his Boundary Waters trip which will be so much fun. I'm bummed that I'm not going to get to go this year, but the little monkey will be worth it! Seems like he's a morning guy, no jumping around last night, none that Sam could feel anyway.

So anyway, that's about all going on right now. I'll have more news regarding my mom tomorrow. Her appointment is at 2:30 EST today if you would pray for her, we'd all surely appreciate it!

Well, hope you are planning something fun and exciting to do this summer - let me know what your summer plans are! I'd sure like to know!

Loving life in the Tundra and getting rested up for the next adventure!

Love, Sarah

Hey there!

Friends and Family!

Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments over the last week! I really appreciate them! Let's me know you are still out there despite my being away! I'll definitely fill you in on the last week, but for now, a quick overview!

We left Monday morning with 30 4th-6th graders to the Turtle Mountains up near the Canadian border for a 4 day camping trip! Lots of fun, but more details to come later.

Then we got back late Thursday for Judah's 18th birthday! Ahh, I just can't believe he's 18 already!!!

Then we had some friends come in on Friday. They are missionaries from Alaska - Eric and Kat and Jude Rozeboom! It was such a great weekend, but it's time to buckle down and get caught up on everyday life - thankfully, our house is semi clean from getting ready for those guys! I can focus on laundry and bills! :)

Let's see - an update on my mom - Well, she sees an Oncologist tomorrow and then we'll know better what the options are, so keep in touch and I'll let you know. If any of you are so compelled to send her a message - she's kind of bad with the computer, but her email is forresters1967@hotmail.com and their home phone # is 804-472-3694. Address: Janis Forrester, 53 Weatherall Drive, Montross, VA 22520. I know some of you wanted to drop her messages, I know she'd appreciate it, thanks!

Other than that, I think we're just about up to 23 weeks tomorrow and let me tell you this funny story in closing and then I need to head out and get started on that mound of laundry. Anyway, I've been feeling this little monkey jumping around and I just can't wait for Sam to be able to feel him too! Well, today, I was just sitting here and work and he was kicking up a storm - or something, but then I pushed down on my belly and sure enough, I felt a good hard kick! I got so excited that I wanted to tell Sam, I was about to pick up the phone to call him, when the phone rang here at work, and instead of my greeting "American Capital Investments, This is Sarah", I just said, "Hello?" Oops! Luckily it was Sambo calling me! Ha!!! Anyway, hopefully he'll be just as active this afternoon and Sam will be able to feel his little guy moving all around! I just thought I'd share. Well, I've been off the computer for so long, I've got to post this and go look at my ultrasound pictures again, it's been ages since I've seen my baby, so now, if you'll excuse me - I'll catch you up later!

Exciting moments in the Tundra,

Love, Sarah

CAUTION: Material may be inappropriate for young children!

What you will see here is our whole album of pictures so far for Baby Coleman. If you think there are too many, then don't look at them. That's the nice thing about having your own blog - you can put as many pictures of your kids on there as you want! Just to let you know, the last three are video so don't miss out on seeing our little guy give you a big howdy do!!!

Well....some of you have been waiting....

for some very exciting news and I'm here to tell you -


it's a BOY!

Pictures to follow. I'm at the library right now and I was going to post them here, but the public computer wouldn't let me do it - so you have to just deal with that for now! He's a mover and a shaker - a non-stop mover and a shaker - takes right after his daddy!

Names to come when he gets here. We've got a couple names picked out but are waiting to see his cute little munchkin face before we decide for sure - so don't worry about that right now!!!

Have a great day!

Excitement reigns in the Tundra!

Sarah

Good Morning!

Just thought I would send a quick little update here.

I just wanted to say that it's sprinkling in the Tundra. Not too much to report. Ultra sound is at 2:30pm today, so big news coming later!

Let's see what else - Oh, we had our Garden Club Plant Auction last night. They changed it around a bit and a lot more people came to the auction - a lot more high spenders, I should say, came to the auction. They were buying small plants that they could definitely get for cheaper somewhere else. But whatever. We didn't end up buying anything at the auction - but here's the highlight!! They had their .25 cents up to $3.00 tables. It was all marked off and they stopped the auction half way through and took down the caution tape and let people in to buy whatever they wanted off the cash n carry tables! Well, Sam was in there like a crazy man! We were buying plants for 3 people's yards and so one minute I was talking to him, the next minute, he was seriously 10 feet away from me - we started stashing our goods in the corner - we ended up with about 20+ plants for about $14! What a steal of a deal!

Anyway, we also visited with a friend - Tiffany and got a bunch more plants from her! Don't you just love being able to share these things?! Well, not too much else to report...

Have a great day! From the springy Tundra,

Love, Sarah

Part 3

Wait a minute, I'd better go back and check to see where I left off!

I think we'd just gotten stopped and realized that Sam's license was suspended, am I right? I think so. Oh yeah, and then driving, driving, driving up to Scottsdale to make it to the 4 star resort that we'd splurged on and then decided not to and then they wouldn't let us cancel. I remember it all very clearly now.

Well, we got to Scottsdale and we were following the directions, going through some very ritzy parts of town - but alas, it was 1am our time, we'd been driving since 8am - just get us there already... So you know how everything takes 10X longer in the dark when you don't know where you're going? Well, yeah. That's how it was... With every stop light, we would check to see if this is our road - not a chance... We went like 15 minutes north of town and it kept getting darker and darker. Then finally! We came to The Boulders Resort. As we pull in, there was a security desk and mind you, we'd been driving for like umpteen hours that day, we were in a dusty van with a doughnut. Needless to say, the security guard was none too excited to see us coming. He was a bit gruff....until we said we were guests there. And then all of a sudden, he was so friendly and kind; asking for our names to put a little paper in the window so they can keep track of us as we come and go...how nice....he gave us directions and kindly sent us on to the Lodge. Ahh, don't you just love the lives of the rich and famous. "Make lefts all the way there. If you make a right, you've gone the wrong way." So we follow this road in the dark making lefts the whole way until we pull up in front of a big fancy lodge. A fella meets us at the door of our car and opens it up to say, "Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Coleman." Then he proceeds to give us directions which we are half listening to. I noticed immediately that there were no cars there - uh oh - this is valet parking! You have GOT to be kidding me! Now, don't mind me - I'm as high class as the next gal - but allowing someone else to drive our dirty, lived in, doughnut riding, disaster in the back with, I might add, a mattress, van, was pushing it a little! Ok, a lot! Our duffle bags seriously looked liked they'd exploded and there were blankets and pillows and left over Subway napkins and trash laying in our trash bag... Anyway, he sent us inside to check in and then said he would wait outside. We could gather our stuff and put it on the golf cart and they would take us to our, hang on a second, let's see if I can remember this - take us to our casita. Did I say that we looked like vagabonds because we knew we'd be traveling all day so... no makeup, knit shorts, tank top - who knows what Sam was wearing... Anyway, we checked in and came back to the van to pack our duffle bags, find our make up bags, grab the computer and camera, etc. Finally we take them out of the van and meanwhile this other car drives up and the Valet opens there door and calls them by name and they step out of their super fancy SUV dressed as if it's 9am in the morning, not 1am and off they go. We are standing there looking like drowned cats and dogs that someone just dropped off with our duffle bags. So we wait, not so patiently, I might add, for the valet to show us which golf cart to get into and wait not so patiently as they drive us around this place taking turns left and right, I was thinking the whole time, how the heck are we going to get back when the valet must have read my mind. He said just call the desk in the morning and they'd have someone to pick us up and bring us back and bring our car around within 5 minutes when we were ready to head out. Needless to say, at this point, I'm not too impressed with 4 star resorts. Sam says he just wanted them to leave us alone and have our van parked right in front of our room!!! He's real high class - if you call the Motel 6 high class!!! HA! I just don't think either of us were in the ritzy mood after such a long day! Finally we get to our casita and they took our bags in and put them in the closet and proceed to ask us what kinds of things were we interested in doing while we were there. I was like Sleep! HA, actually I didn't say that. But we just hemmed and hawed and he asked if we liked hiking, we said, sure... Knowing that we would be spending the day at Art Galleries in Scottsdale and then off, because we've got a plan, Man! He spent the next 10 minutes telling us of all the hiking places in the area, even pulling up maps on his IPhone to show us how to get there. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated him going the extra mile, but leave, MAN! So he finally did and we had a chance to look around. It was nice. It was very nice. There were robes and slippers and fancy adobe architecture and really fancy soaps and shampoos. It was nice to shower without Grand-daddy long legs like previously at the Camp for the wedding.... We finally got to bed and slept and slept and slept. We didn't even wake up till 9am - which was only 7am their time, but whatever! Sam spent the next few minutes taking pictures of the quail off our patio and all the cacti and beautiful desert landscaping! We got ready for the day and ventured out to check out our surroundings and decided by about 11am that it was too hot and it was time to leave! So we'd spent less than 12 hours at this fancy resort, seems like quite the waste, but honestly, after our Sunday, I'm pretty sure we needed a really good nights sleep! It was worth it, and I told my man so - I hope he realizes how much I really did appreciate getting a taste of the rich and famous. Even if I'm way more comfortable with a mattress thrown in the back of the van - a girl needs a little high class every once in a while!! PS. Did I mention it was about 100 degrees?

Well, we got back to the car and headed into Scottsdale to get our tire fixed, which couldn't be fixed, so we ended up purchasing a new tire. And then in the mean time Sam called ND DMV to find out why his license was suspended and I'll try to make it a short story. He had a little accident back in December. He was driving his aunt's car over to get an oil change and there was snow and an old lady pulled out in front of him. He hit her. But the police came and cited her, it wasn't his fault at all. He got all the necessary info and handed it over to his aunt and uncle and didn't have anything else left to do with it. The end. Well, I guess months later, they were having a problem with finding the insurance on the aunt's car and sent a letter to Sam, but the DMV has his address listed as nnd St NE, not 2nd St NE and so we never received any notification at all. I guess the other insurance doesn't go after the owner, but instead the driver. So since they never heard back from anyone, they suspended his license and it had been that way for I don't know how long, because they never sent us any notification! Anyway, they told him that to reinstate it, he would have to get all this paperwork notarized and mailed in and he would have to pay a $50 reinstatement fee - Sam told him that he was in Arizona and could not do all of that right then and that he is the primary driver and needed his license reinstated ASAP. They were pretty nasty about it and said they wouldn't. Finally, we got ahold of his aunt and uncle on Thursday and they got it taken care of, so when we got home, he called DMV to check the status and they profusely apologized for the situation and waived the fee.... So it's all good now, but a major inconvenience and royal pain in the neck!

Finally, we got to Scottsdale to check out the galleries and since it was now up to 109 degrees, we were the only ones there checking out all this amazing art. Hopefully we've got some good leads and Sam can contact some of these galleries to see if they would like to represent him. So we'll see what happens! You could pray about those opportunities!

By the way - side note - pictures, I promise, are to come, but Sam's pond is coming along nicely! He was working on the waterfall yesterday and it's looking just fabulous! While we were away the plants were busy growing and everything is turning green! And then tonight is our annual Plant Auction for the Garden Club and so we are very excited about that! It looks like it's going to be a great year for blooming-ness in our yard! It got up to about 80 degrees yesterday but late last night, the wind picked up and I was planting wave petunias in the freezing cold while Sam was working on a more permanent situation for Tonto's kennel. But anyway, Spring is here!!! Just thought I'd throw that in there!

So back to the EPIC ADVENTURES OF SAM AND SARAH! We wanted to make it up to the Grand Canyon for sunset, but that clearly wasn't going to happen, especially after taking so long with the tire, etc. Oh, I almost completely forgot! We wanted to see Sedona - that's what was taking us so long to get to the Grand Canyon. I remember going there about 15 years ago and it's grown up so much. We had a bit of a frustrating time finding the shops that I had remembered before, but we found them and got some baubles for our neighbor kids and headed out to the red hills for sunset. It was so nice to get away from people and just wander around. It was a beautiful evening. Then we drove until we got to about 10 miles outside the Grand Canyon and found a random road in the Nation Forest to camp on. And I've got to tell ya, we do this a lot. In fact, that's what we do most of the time when we are camping. But I had an eerie feeling that we weren't alone this time. It freaked me out... Luckily with this van, we have tinted windows. And then, just as I was falling asleep, I hear this noise! It sounded like someone was walking around our van and immediately I was thinking, how do we defend ourselves?! I asked Sam what was that sound, and he said it was his stomach growling! HA! I nearly had a heart attack! Anyway, I fell asleep and slept hard till morning. Turns out we were fine - no one tried to attack us or anything. And then Sam said he had this eerie feeling that we were being watched by a bob cat or something! F-R-E-A-K-Y! So we got up in time for a sunrise at the Grand Canyon - 5am Arizona time! It was beautiful - breath taking. I'd been there before but Sam hadn't and had always wanted to go and I was so honored to be there to experience that with him. I love making his dreams come true! I thrive on it! We spent the rest of the time meandering around the Grand Canyon, we even had a great nap over looking the rim of the Grand Canyon in the heat of the day! It was heavenly! Then we started making our way north towards Bryce Canyon and driving through the Vermilion Cliffs and the Painted Desert and we drove right over the Colorado River... Incredibly beautiful weather the whole way.

We did reach Bryce Canyon by sunset, I think we had it a little backwards and think we should have been to Bryce for Sunrise and Grand Canyon by Sunset, but still - breath taking views! As we got out at Sunset Point at Bryce Canyon, Sam said that it was really cool there, but the Grand Canyon was definitely more up his alley! I was just stunned because I'd never seen it before. Anyway, then we drove to this other area and as we walked out onto the view point, Sam said to take back what he just said - I couldn't believe how it could get any more amazing - every where you turned was another incredible view - God is amazing! I just think about the Great Flood waters rushing through there making all those canyons and at Bryce specifically, there were spires everywhere - it looked like the world's largest cathedral - I couldn't imagine how all those spires weren't just wiped right off??? God is so amazing. I don't know how people couldn't look at that and just be struck by God's amazing-ness. He's incredible, and He created all of that majestic-ness just to bring Him glory! And you know what? When you see that huge, massive work of God, it's hard to realize that as incredible as that is, He cares even more for you and me individually! Those canyons were pretty impressive, with them reaching their spires straight to the glory of God but then you look around at all the people who are admiring it - maybe they know God, maybe they don't, but God created each and everyone of them and loves them even more than this incredible sight in front of us - how humbling! God is good! I don't even know what else to say!

So now we are on Tuesday night. And we left Bryce Canyon, this time in desperate search of a shower since our last one was, well, let's not go there. So we checked out the camp grounds at Bryce Canyon, there were none. Then we saw a sign saying there were showers in town, we headed that direction and we were informed there that they weren't open yet. Who's ever heard of that? Anyway, we head down the road looking for opportunities but resigned to the fact that we might have to have a wet wipe bath that night! Thank God for wet wipes! So as we were driving along, waiting to find the National Forest to find a new camping spot, we spotted a KOA! Thank God for KOA! I remember them from my youth! We sneaked in there and got a much-needed shower and were ready to settle in the for the evening. This time we found a spot that didn't feel so creepy! And the stars were amazing - Utah really knows how to show off their stars! When we woke up in the morning, it turns out that there were tons of variegated lupine surrounding us, and even though we didn't have a shovel, Sam managed to get some as souvenirs! We were on our way back towards to ND. Sam needed to be at work by Thursday afternoon, so our goal was to make it to the Black Hills. We didn't really stop anywhere along the way. We did drive up to Denver where the mountains were still just covered in snow - it was beautiful. We drove through Vail, Breckenridge, and all these fancy ski places and it was beautiful going over the mountain passes, but it was also time to get home. How in the world was Tonto? We hadn't gotten one phone call that he was off his leash and roaming the neighborhood - what's wrong with that picture?! Anyway, we did want to stop in the Black Hills to collect some more flat rocks for Sam's pond, but by the time we got there, it was late. 11:40pm to be exact.

And how does she remember what time it was - that Sarah, she's amazing! Well.... the reason I remember was because that was the beginning of "Shortcut #2." You remember me mentioning anything about that before? Well, I was driving, of course. And Sam said to turn here...back there, we missed our turn. So I turned around and drove right passed it again for a 2nd time (should have been clue's #1 and #2). Finally, we got on the right road - gravel road (should have been clue #3) and headed NE - that's the direction we were suppose to be traveling. "Now I don't know exactly where this road ends up because it's not on the map, but as long as we head NE, we should be fine." (Clue #4) The clues were screaming at me and I just kept driving, blindly following my adventuresome husband. And I know most of you are thinking that I'm a crazy girl for following him, but seriously, you haven't experienced anything until you hang out with Sam for a while and end up on one of his adventures - he'll take you places you've never been before, you'll see things you've never seen before, seriously, life is so much more fun and exciting with this man - ask a couple people who have been on his adventures - well, on second thought, don't really ask too many people. But take it from me - this man is Fun with a capital F! Ok, so back to driving - guess what we saw next - snow! We were just in 109 degrees and now there is snow!!!! Clue #5 - there were snow drifts across the road and there were no other car tracks through them. Clue #6 - no signs telling us where we were going. Clue #7 - The compass on the car was telling us we were going SW. Clue #8 hundred thousand, we were 4 miles away from a place called Deerfield Lake. Doesn't that sound creepy to you? Sounds like something that should have been on "I know what you did last summer." I never saw that movie and never even knew what it was about until Sam explained it to me - while we were on this road.... I'll spare you the details, but I was getting freaked out! I think Sam was finally getting himself creeped out too, because all of a sudden, he said, stop the car, I'm driving, we're getting out of here! And sure enough, he jumped in the driver seat and within 20 minutes, we were back on the highway - the time now - 1am! That's how I remembered it was 11:40pm when we went in there. We were so freaked out, that we parked our car in a lighted hotel parking lot and slept for the night! The next morning, Thursday, we headed home. Didn't even take the time to go into the Black Hills for the Rocks. We were home by 1pm and Sam was at work a half an hour later! So there you have it - the EPIC ADVENTURES OF SAM AND SARAH!

Tonto was fine and very happy to see us. I got half our laundry done and everything put away. The boys ended up having a baseball game that we went to from 4pm till 9:30 - don't ask - long story! Friday, I decided to stay home from work to get some things done, like groceries since we didn't have anything in the house! And that ended up taking the whole day. Then Friday night, we had Parent's Night Out at church and that was a good time...

On Saturday, I did a bit of rummage sale-ing and Sam helped his cousin do some landscaping. We also had a few graduation open houses, it was also the 1st Anniversary of Home Going of John Coleman, Sam's Dad for those of you who are new to the life and adventures of Sam and Sarah. Kind of a reflective day for us. What a life to celebrate and we try to celebrate his life all the times we remember him and what an impact he had on the world! We surely miss him!

Well, folks, my eyes are going bleary. I can only imagine what yours might be doing. Tomorrow, I don't know what I'll write about, but we do have our Ultrasound, and yes, we are going to find out the sex of our baby, so on Thursday, or maybe tomorrow night, I'll have some B-I-G news for you! Stay tuned! Thanks for reading and keeping in touch with us!

Until next time from "Springtime in the Tundra,"

Love, Sarah

PS. I forgot to proof yesterday's post before I posted it. So sorry for any mistakes in there... Thanks!

Good Morning.

I know that it's been a good long while since I've posted anything, and it's probably smartest just to become a follower - thanks Sue! That was whenever I do post anything, it will come to your email and you won't have to keep checking back! But hopefully in the near future I will be posting so much more as Sam and I have wonderful news of a new addition to our family! No, not another pet - but a baby!!! Although I'm sure that everyone who actually reads this blog, already knows, but I guess I was going to make it "official!"

Anyway, I've been feeling great - in week 7 now and praying for a healthy baby. It's amazing the amount of information in this great wide world!!! It can be certainly overwhelming at times! I thought that when you got married, they would play on your emotions, of course you want this - it is the best day of your life - sure you want to see your new name plastered all over everything - the wedding industry is quite the rip off! But then comes baby!!! Now, you have a new life to be responsible for and you are so afraid to mess him/her up - that you are inundated with everything that's "good" for your baby!!! And then you start freaking out - "What if there is something better and I don't know about it??? Will I end up in therapy for the next 18 years because my kid is angry that I birthed them in the wrong position - I just know I'm going to mess this whole thing up!!!!" I think I was made for the simpler days. I was just telling a friend the other day, what happened to the times, you had your baby - they joined your family - they didn't take over your family, you taught them how to walk in the ways of the Lord, you prayed for them and you continued on this journey that God has put you on - together. Perhaps I'm a bit simple minded. But I get overwhelmed pretty easily and freaked out. So maybe the hormones have been wrecking havoc on my emotions, but these are the kinds of thoughts I've been dealing with lately - among others....

But all in all - we are very excited to welcome this new little guy/gal into our lives! Sam and I have so much fun together, it's really a shame that we don't have someone else experience it with us - so soon.... I think it's going to be a great adventure of experiencing God in a whole new way! So bring on the baby!!!

In other news, like there really is other news, but anyway.... We are headed out to Big Sky this weekend with the Sr. Highers! Finally, for the first time, I get to go and not ski - which is what I've been waiting to do pretty much my whole life. The life of a ski bum minus the ski has always intrigued me! I've been fascinated with the idea of reading/drinking coffee/tea/HC in the lodge and watching everyone else freeze themselves to death! While exhausting themselves completely! And now.... Ahhhh... It's like the best of both worlds - surrounded by the wonderful ski atmosphere, hanging out with Sr. Highers, and not actually skiing!!! (I make it out to be a big deal, but skiing isn't really all that bad. It's kind of fun actually! But I'm always up for a new adventure, and I think I'm going to settle into this one quite comfortably!)

Well, even though I still don't have pictures to share - hopefully I'll figure something out soon. I'd really like to take some pictures. Especially once we have a baby, Sam can't hog the camera all the time! ;) So for now - good tidings. We'd certainly appreciate prayers for a great pregnancy, a healthy baby - a calmness of emotions and praise for Jesus holding us in the palm of His hand!!!