Counting down to Christmas!

It is the week before Christmas and it really feels like Christmas here in Bristol. We have had cold weather for quite a while now and snow off and on for the last couple of weeks. I was glad to see the sunshine today. We have had such a good time doing the nativity advent calendar with Braelyn. I can tell she is learning a lot from it and from her PraiseBaby Christmas DVD too. I think our family Christmas "theme song" this year is "Joy to the World". Aaron started singing it in the car one afternoon and now Braelyn can sing the first few lines :)....I love it.

I am now 36.3 weeks along!! Wow, hard to believe that I was only 37 and a half weeks along when I was induced with Braelyn....We are hoping and praying that she hangs in there until at least after Christmas :) and hopefully even longer than that. I'm feeling good still and have a check up Wed. I think we might have a name for this baby girl!! The name that I thought we had, I changed my mind about...so we have been searching still until just a few days ago. It has exactly the meaning that I was hoping to find and it is simple, yet not common. Now I just have to decide on what middle name to put with it. I put all three pics up of my belly because I feel like they all look a little different. And they might be the last ones you see of me pregnant :)

I gave Braelyn her first haircut a little over a week ago. She did really well and I think it looks pretty good. Thankfully her hair has some wave in it, so I don't have to do a perfect job. I mainly just trimmed the back because it was quite uneven.

I was also blessed to have a baby shower at our church here in Bristol about a week ago. It was so much fun and exciting to get new things for this new baby. We are so thankful for our church family here. They are so kind and gracious. It was a true time of blessing.

I can't remember if I shared this or not already...but I am proud to say that Aaron was voted the Chief Resident for this year and will start carrying out those responsibilities in January. I am so proud of him and we give God all the glory for all that he is teaching him and how He is using him in his residency program.
Also, Aaron's Granddaddy passed away last Sunday morning. He had been diagnosed with bladder cancer and alzheimers. We can see the blessing in the Lord taking him home now, before he had to go through chemotherapy and any other suffering that comes with those diseases. He always loved to see Braelyn when we were there. We are so thankful for the legacy he left behind and the clear testimony he gave of knowing the Lord. We know he is in the best place he could be now....in the presence of the Lord and with his wife. Below is a picture of Aaron and all of his brothers and sisters (Aaron, Sarah, Clint, Laura, and Daniel). It was so nice to see all of them and be together for a little while.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! May we all praise God for the precious gift of Jesus He gave us, the hope of salvation! May He be your most treasured gift this year.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

Today is Dec 1st and it is so nice to be home again after so much traveling in November. We thank God for safe trips and time to get away by ourselves some. I know that won't be happening much when this new baby comes :). We really enjoyed the Global Health Missions Conf in KY. It was a great experience and we learned a lot and got to talk to a lot of medical missionaries from different organizations. We have started the application process to become missionaries with the International Mission Board right now. It is a long process, so we wanted to go ahead and get started now. This is the organization we are most familiar with and have supported growing up in our churches. We continue to pray that God will give us clear direction as to what His plan is for us in this process.
Our second trip was to Pigeon Forge for a Rural Health conf for Aaron. I REALLY enjoyed this trip bc we got to stay at the Music Road Hotel and had a great room with a view of the mountains and a fireplace!! Plus, I was free to do whatever I wanted most of the time. So I caught up on a few things and then got to hang out with another resident wife and have some good fellowship time. It was a real blessing all in all.
Our last trip was to Middle TN for Thanksgiving. There were a few less people there than usual, but it was still a great time of fellowship with family. We have SO much to be thankful for.

So, now we are back home.....preparing for Christmas and a new baby :). We have our tree up and decorations, which I am enjoying. And it was snowing today!! One Christmas tradition I have been working on lately for Braelyn is an advent calendar of the Christmas Story. I'm so thankful God provided what I needed (time and supplies) to be able to make this. I am posting pictures of it. I pray that God will use it to teach Braelyn and baby sister someday what the true meaning of Christmas is and what the greatest gift is. I think parents have to be extra intentional these days to make sure our kids are not confused about why we celebrate. We don't plan on doing Santa with our kids, just to help them not get distracted (if that's possible) with all our culture says Christmas is about. So back to the calendar, each day you read a little bit of the Christmas story and add an item to the top. So there is a lot of repetition bc you start back from the beginning each day and add a little more. I will post the readings some time in case anyone else wants to make one.

I am now 33 and a half weeks pregnant! I still feel really good most of the time. Just getting a bit more tired and having some more back aches, but I guess that is to be expected. I think we are close to choosing a name! Thank you for your prayers...hopefully we can announce that soon.
My plan is to try to enjoy and make the most of each day these last few weeks that I have only one child to take care of and still have some quiet time :) I know things will be changing soon and quiet moments will be few and far between, but that's ok. We are so thankful to be blessed with another gift from God.







And here is a video of one of Braelyn's new favorite things to do.....washing dishes!! She entertains herself very well with this, but unfortunately the floor is always soaked with water and requires some extensive clean up :)