Blessed.

I think we can easily throw around the word 'blessed' without truly taking into account ALL that we are blessed by and most importantly, the One in which the blessings come. In the last few months, I have found myself in awe at the blessings in our life. Y'all, God is for real! He has never left us since we surrendered our lives to Him 7 years ago. In the trials we have learned so much and our faith was strengthened like never before and through the incredible blessings we have realized just how undeserving we are of His grace and mercy.

Today I was reading in Hebrews and felt myself relating to my man Abraham. Do you know how many verses begin with 'In faith'? Well I don't know either, but I can tell you it was a theme in chapter 11. Many times God would tell Abraham to do something and he would obey without even knowing the destination or reason behind God's leading. He just had faith.

I have been reflecting on the many times God has been faithful to us even when we had no idea what the outcome of our obedience would be. We have learned that His plans are so perfect! Which brings me to some of the details of those most recent blessings...

I haven't posted any baby belly shots since 13 weeks. Let's take a walk down memory lane! Who knows, I might just share a special detail about our little girl at the end!

*Side Note: Not sure how the text '19 Weeks' got placed on my bosom like that, but I'm sure not goin' back to change it...even though it's driving me nuts. I will not give in to my OCD!

My pregnancy has been amazing! I don't crave anything in particular. I just love food! Especially cereal! Phil has been good to eat ice cream right along with me-good man. I have felt her move quite a bit now. She's really low and seems to be stretched across my belly (and bladder) and I feel that I spend the majority of my days going pee-pee. Just sayin'...

The above pictures speak for themselves. It was Easter and we had just gotten home from church. Holy moley did we have an incredible 2 days at church! I couldn't even sleep the night before I was so excited! And this girl does not get excited about waking up at 5:15AM-ever! We were expecting a huge crowd so we had 5 services. 2 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. I had recently auditioned for the Worship Team and they had asked me to be a part of the team with Easter services being my first call to serve! I could not be more excited to get to watch the start of every service from the stage and be a part of a team that truly has a heart to worship. This pregnant Momma had a hard time holding it together, especially since my own Momma was watching live during the last service.
(Church plug: Join us live every week at 9:45am and 11:15am EDT at www.therevolution.tv )

The next BIG exciting news is that we're buying a house! WOO HOO! Say what?! No, it's really true! Our lease was coming to an end and we knew we didn't want to stay in this house. After 10+ years of renting we were really hoping that somehow we could buy. We had a lot of factors that came up against us but after meeting the right agent who knew the right people, things started to look good. This process only started happening the week before Easter.

We knew we didn't want to force anything, and we knew that securing a loan would be tough with Phil being self employed and my recent decision to go from full-time to part-time, but hey, our God could do it!

After securing a pre-approval letter, we were ready for the hunt! The market is crazy right now for a buyer! Investors come in and snatch up everything with cash offers as soon as their opportunity is given so as a owner occupant you have to make your offer fast! After seeing a few HUD homes and foreclosures, we knew Phil's home improvement skills would be greatly needed! But with a baby on the way, we couldn't risk any potentially hazardous issues like mold, so our options were slim to none.

But finally we were able to find a cute ranch style home with the property size we had hoped for and minimal work to complete before we move in!

The only downside is it doesn't have a garage-yet! But other than that, the owner is very clean and has taken such good care of the property. We are just waiting for the appraisal to go through and a few other loose ends, and then we should be set to close on May 31st! I cannot believe that I am getting my dream of having our first home before our first baby. See? How good is God?! Unexpected blessing.

At 20 weeks 5 days I had another ultrasound to see the sweet bambina. A couple weeks prior Phil was praying before bed and he said her name! I told him we couldn't go back now! It sounded perfect and I loved hearing him finally say it, especially in a prayer.

So it is with great excitement that I introduce to you, our sweet Elliana.

Phil picked the name. When he told me the meaning, I knew it was right. Elliana is of Hebrew origin meaning 'God has answered'. After many years of praying for this sweet blessing, He has answered indeed!

23 Weeks: She can feel me dance! Phil is also filling out nicely...

One last and most current belly shot and then another tid-bit of good news!

Now guess what?! We received a letter in the mail on Friday from the fire department that Phil just tested with that he is moving on! So that means he will receive a background packet in the mail shortly and will have to do a physical ability test.

Aaahhhh! Excited to say the very least! Do you see? The blessings are abundant! And we don't take any of them for granted. We are so very grateful. And most thankful for YOU. We love doing life alongside each of you. And if you're stranger that has stumbled upon our page, well, hello! Leave a comment and tell us a little about yourself!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. 

Ephesians 3:20-21

It's A _____!!!

The moment we've all been waiting for...the BIG reveal! Last Tuesday we got an ultrasound to try and determine the gender of our sweet one, but we couldn't get the right shot. We saw umbilical cord between the legs, hand over the parts, legs crossed...nothing to go off of! So I booked another ultrasound at First Impressions where they specialize in this sort of thing.

My dearest friend Lauren met us there yesterday at 4:30 to share in the excitement and take a video as we found out.

So what do you think? Little boy soccer player, or little girl soccer player? Either way, the child has no choice.

And the big reveal...

That's right! We have been blessed with a sweet baby girl! 

And we couldn't be more thrilled.

I can't wait to hold you in my arms and sing lullabies to you sweet daughter. What?! I'm going to have a daughter! God is SO good.

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Have you ever laugh-cried? Tonight I was minding my business, watching the tube and Phil came from out of the room to join me. I was really into what I was watching and didn't glance up for a good 10 minutes. I was not at all prepared for what I was about to see.

You see, for the past month I've been patiently waiting for my dear husband to take a razor to his face and give up the shenanigans of growing a Duck Dynasty beard. Love the guys, but you know their wives prefer their baby faces.

I still love him madly, but when we recently found out that after sending in his application, he was approved with a Fire Department to move on with the application process, my hopes of a clean shaven face were in site! No beards for the FD! I'll admit, I prayed a little bit harder that he would get that interview.

So tonight, I glance over, and literally laugh-cried my mascara off of my face. Could not stop laughing.

Are you ready for this?

I wasn't.

Did you just laugh-cry your mascara off? So this was my darling hubby's way of telling me he received the email saying he is continuing in the FD process!!! Background packet to be filled out by next Friday, physical test, and then the interview! He'll need to lose all the facial hair by then, but he had to have a little fun. Maybe he can leave the 'Pastor Patch' for a few days. Phil came up with the new nickname for the soul patch tonight when we realized our current Pastor along with a few others we know, sport the patch.

I'm excited to be back on the Firefighter pursuit alongside my incredible husband. I trust God has used this wild journey to bring us exactly where He wants us to be. It's just a matter of time! And we've learned to trust His timing over our own.

As of last Saturday I began my 2nd trimester! And today I felt a flutter! Coolest feeling EVER! I took my 13 week belly shot too.

Uhm, I'm VERY excited! And this was the only shot where I realized I'm not supposed to suck in for these pictures. That's taking a while to get used to. But I sure can't complain! Embracing the belly as it grows!

Here's a little clip of our last ultrasound at 11 weeks! CLICK HERE to see him or her. What do you think it is? Send in your votes! We won't be waiting much longer to find out. Phil wants to go to a 4D place ASAP.

Phil and I celebrated 9 glorious years of marriage. No really, they have been glorious! It's ridiculous how much I love my man. We have been together over 12 years straight and I've yet to get sick of his face. Even with the thickest beard in the world.

We celebrated with dinner at P.F Chang's and he surprised me with some thoughtful gifts.

Love you all. Meant it.