Showers of Blessings

"What are little boys made of?

Snips and snails, and puppy dog tails

That's what little boys are made of!"

Garrett and I are so grateful for the love and support we've received in abundance from all the family and friends... to you all, thank you!

Here are a few pictures of the weekend with family and friends...

I'm lovin' this picture... Dad, Garrett, and Jeremy at dinner on Friday night.

Pregnant me, cousin Leslie, and pregnant Erin at my baby shower in Amarillo!

Ashly and baby Noah (6 months) at the shower... aren't they so precious?!

What a beautiful table! Thank you Leslie for being the hostess with the mostess ;)

And me with most of my hostesses... Leslie, Laura, Rachel, Candice, Erin, Me, Brooke, and Ashly. Thank you ladies again for making it so beautiful and tasty :)

Freshmen '02 reunion ;) Here I am with Rachel (the new Momma), Heather Jo, Camille, and Natalie. Thank you girls for being there! It was so special having us all together!

Blooming me and beautiful Heather Jo! Roommates in college for a year and close friends still to this day :) I love you!

The new Momma (of just 19 days) and me... doesn't Rachel look great?!

My precious Mom and our close family friend for as long as I can remember... Laura!

A closer look at the cake... wasn't it adorable?! The best part about it was... it tasted even better than it looked!

Well, those are all the pictures I'm posting at the moment. The camera certainly didn't capture everyone showering us with blessings, but I wanted to post a few. Thanks again to all of the family and friends who love and support us! We only have 5 weeks left and Garrett, Baby Reece, and I are all set... especially after this weekend! Thanks to everyone in Amarillo and Spearman, Plainview, Wyoming, and Oklahoma for the huge blessings. We can't wait for you all to meet the precious baby boy :) After all, he's the reason we celebrated all weekend long!

Psalm 127:3
Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.

pieces of the baby boy puzzle... comin' together

What an exciting time this is! I can officially take a deep sigh of relief... because the nursery furniture is up! We're at 34 weeks, so it is very relieving to have the big stuff taken care of :) I knew it would get done (as I'd mentioned and hoped a while back) but it is so wonderful to know it is finally complete! Thanks to the help of John, Jeremy, and the future Daddy (Garrett)- the furniture looks like this:

I just kind of threw the bedding in the crib for the picture... so it's not complete, but I had to post these pictures because it feels so much like a personal victory! We finished the stripes and the furniture was up in one evening... what a productive weekend and what a huge blessing it was to have friends like John and Jeremy to help Garrett out! I just sat and watched :) That's what a pregnant woman's supposed to do... right? hehe!

Speaking of pregnant, here is a picture from Sydney and me on Friday taking a break during all the shopping.

On Wednesday I go to the Doctor so I'll post any exciting updates I may possibly get. As for now, baby Reece is moving well and definitely growing. He's at least 4 lbs. and 17 in. long. Here are more pictures of the room:

Here's more pictures of their hard work finalized!

what an awesome God we serve... what a true and faithful God He is!

Well, I'm just going to go ahead and say it.... Hallelujah!

Wow, words cannot describe how worthy He is! I have definitely been compelled to share His truth in love! And I do not have enough words nor do I have enough time to convey all that He is (plus, I still haven't fully comprehended all that He is!)... which is why we have the written Word of God... because through those 66 books, He reveals Himself to us!

This Monday has been a great one. This past weekend has been not only productive with Kingdom Keys Church & TV ministry, but also a blessing as I have been stirred spiritually! The Lord continues to show me the promises we have in Him! Garrett and I are ever blessed to be a part of the ministry. After all, this life is truly all about Him (or should be, if it's not)!

One great thing about this weekend that I was blessed by is something I was reminded of after church. Tim Elliott shared with Garrett and I that he had a "glimpse of eternity" on Sunday morning before the church service. He said that he could hear my Grandpa Kenneth and Grandma Joyce in Heaven... and it was as if Grandpa said, "Come on Joyce- let's not miss it. We've got to get to the grandstands to see our seed we left on Earth... they're doing something special today!"

Through that "glimpse," Tim later thought about the fact that Erin lead praise and worship and then Sydney sang a special. Of course, many in our family were probably ministering on Sunday morning to different church bodies, but what a blessing it was to hear Tim share that! And yes, Sydney sang "Redeemer" by Nicole Mullen yesterday. It was such a blessing to see her heart of worship!

Hebrews 12:1

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us...

Here are some pics of the past few days... Sydney is visiting through Friday for Spring Break!

These 3 are from the "Shamrock St. Patrick's Day Celebration" ... here we were at the carnival! Sydney took Ean on the train.
Brooke and I while Sydney and Brooke's husband John were riding the Octopus!

32 weeks and a basketball later...

Wow... this week is marker 32! We've come a long way... and as you can see, my body has come a long way too ;)

There's the most recent picture of me... I took it this morning, just to keep all of you (who don't get to see me very often) updated! Tomorrow I'll go in for the 32-wk check-up and I'll go again in 2 weeks, and then it will be weekly once I'm 35 weeks.

It's so funny because this past week, I have been ever-aware of Reece's presence... he's made sure I've been aware! He moves alot these days and man, is he a firm baby or what?! It sure feels like it. There's lots of moments during the day when I'll feel him move very close to the outside of my belly, and then you'll be able to see it- his little bottom will be wedging out or his knee or elbow or something! It is definitely a great experience. And even crazier, I may be feeling his legs moving up high- and at the same time this ambidextrous boy will be movin' his arms or hands around down low... and then I'll have the urge to run to the restroom! haha! He has definitely grown (and I know this is nowhere near the end of it)! I think he's about 16 inches long, or so... at least that what's research tells us. I'm also betting he's over 3 and a half pounds these days too. But all in all, I'll see if our Dr. tells us anything different--- as for now, I guess we'll find out how big he'll really be once he is born!

And speaking of birth, I have a close friend who should be having her baby today sometime... very exciting! It's hard for Garrett and I to believe that we're already at 32 weeks. That means we have 8 weeks (maybe less) to get the furniture put together and the nursery complete! We've taken care of lots of things in the nursery, but we still have to put the furniture together! I'm hoping we'll tackle that this weekend! Wow, if time flies by this fast now- I can only imagine how quickly it will fly by once he's here! I'm glad Erin & Jeremy will be having theirs in September, so we'll all be able to enjoy the newborn stage for an extra-long time! In fact, they've started blogging- so you can see their story if you'd like (it's under our friends).

Until next time... have a marvelous Monday and we will keep you posted through the progress!

"Now thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ..." 2 Corin. 2:14

~farrell

T minus 9 weeks!

Good Monday to you all!

The picture to the right is of Sydney, the future aunt, and me from the OKC trip we took this weekend! Garrett and I don't plan to make any more out-of-town trips now that we're at 31 weeks :) I'm sure my doctor wouldn't recommend it either! (But I will say, that the road trip was quick enough and very comfortable!)

Reece is growing and my belly is growing- especially up on the left side. All is well, as we went to the doctor last week. I've started seeing him every 2 weeks now... so I know we're getting closer! The doctor told me that I don't need to worry about gestational diabetes because just like we knew it, I don't have that!

Garrett and I have been getting good sleep, but I will have to say that it looks like a mound of pillows on my side... I wedge myself in between all the pillows so that it makes it challenging for me to get out of bed... it's quite hilarious, but comfortable!

Life is busy and very exciting as we count down the next 9 weeks. We can try to predict when he'll come, but we'll just have to see! Now Garrett would love to have him at the end of April... wouldn't we all? We're not rushing him though as we continually thank God for a "full-term, healthy, perfect baby."

And here's a photo of part of the "expectant family!" Erin and I are both pregnant and I know Mom and Sydney can't wait for the babies to come!

We are looking forward to it and I'll keep you updated!