Christmas 2010

Our adventure started with a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Augustine, FL with our friends, Adam & Anne Reid and Wan & Emily.  Anne Reid is on the staff at the church.  This church was beautiful!  It was the first congregation established in Florida in 1824.

We then had dinner at Adam & Anne Reid's place.  It was a fun time telling stories over yummy roast beef and potatoes.

When I was getting ready for our Christmas Eve evening, I was having a hard time trying to find something to wear.  I don't have as many options now that I don't fit into some of my regular clothes.  Luke handed me a wrapped box to open.  He had picked out this blue sweater and leggings to go with it and wanted me to wear it that night.  I thought that it was very sweet, and the girls were all impressed that he had picked out that outfit by himself.

Laika was anxious for Christmas morning to come.

On Christmas morning, Luke and I exchanged our gifts and lounged around playing with our gifts.  :)  We then went over to Matt & Wendy's place for some Christmas dinner.  We had turkey with stuffing, green bean casserole, roasted potatoes, and pumpkin pie cake for dessert.  It was delicious!  We had a great time over there playing cribbage and singing worship songs after our dinner.

On Monday night, Luke's parents came into town.  We've had a great time with them playing lots of games, going out to eat, and playing golf.  Wednesday we went down to St. Augustine and walked around the historic downtown area.  It was fun to see all the touristy things.  We went to Fort Matanzas and read about Spain's defense of St. Augustine against the British before the United States was the United States.  Then we went to Columbia's restaurant that served Spanish/Latin/American food.

 On Thursday, we spent the day on the golf course.  I became Mom's personal driver on the course since I was not golfing. 

This is just part of our adventure during this holiday season.  I hope you all are having a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A Dog's Life

What a life!

20 Weeks! Halfway there!

These are probably my last ultrasound pictures of the baby.  The top picture is a profile of his face.  It's kind of hard to see because he was stubbornly lying on his belly during the ultrasound.  She couldn't get a very good picture of his face, but you can kind of see his nose and mouth.

This is his cute little foot!

 

This is another picture confirming that he's a boy!  You can see his little butt cheeks.  :)

 20 weeks!  

I think this is 18 weeks.  I wanted to post it to show another one of my maternity outfits.

For Such a Time as This

I have been reminded today in my devotions that God has put me in a certain place and in certain circumstances for a reason.  I can sometimes forget that each step Luke and I have made through life whether a graduation, a move, a job opportunity, orders, or a pregnancy, God has a purpose.  It is my destiny to be right here and right now just as much as it was God's purpose for Esther to be on the throne when it was decreed that all Jews be killed. 

"And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"  It was very obvious to Mordecai of why Esther was chosen by the king to become queen.  It wasn't so obvious to her.  Just so, it's not very obvious to me why I am where I am in life.  Just having finished nursing school, getting pregnant, and then the having the future of moving to the other side of the world, I have been having a hard time figuring out what I'm supposed to be doing right now.

 I am very encouraged by this verse in Esther and another in Acts 17:26,27.  "He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us."

I am seeking Him!

TSO Concert

Luke and I went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert in Jax this week.  Now THAT is my kind of concert.  It was a huge light show along with some great talent in vocals, guitars, piano, and violin.  It was definitely a rock concert, but we didn't have to fight crowds, damage our hearing, or stand the entire time like most rock concerts.  I always end up in tears at those kind of concerts....which is why I've only agreed to go a couple times.  I really enjoyed this concert, and I think the baby did too.  He was sure moving around a lot.

This was the set up of the stage before the show.  We got upgraded to better seats, and as you can see, they were REALLY great seats.

The first half of the concert was one of their Christmas rock operas.  They had a story-teller narrating between musical numbers.  I really enjoyed all the Christmas music that was played.  Many of the songs had Biblical themes, which was awesome!

 

The second half of the show was just a bunch of songs from their other albums.  They did cool pyrotechnics and other crazy stuff.

Luke and I did some research about this group after we got home from the concert.  It turns out that there are two groups that tour.  The organization was started by one man who picks the music and the people involved to put together shows and albums.  He was a producer for some big rock bands at one time.  They are not a "Christian band", but there is definitely someone involved in the organization that is a Christian.  There were a couple of songs that were very obviously about the Lord Jesus.

Here's a short video of one of the songs at the end of the show.

Go Fly a...Helicopter!

First, I want everybody to know how much fun Sarah's been having posting this stuff for you all. At first, she wasn't sure if she'd like it or be good at it. Now, just a few days later, she's already hooked. But, I didn't think it was fair for Sarah to have a total monopoly on the fun or on your attentions, so I thought I would pitch in today.

no, this isn't me (maybe it's Sam) but the bird and the beach are right

After almost two months of ground school classes, simulator flights, and flights cancelled due to maintenance, I finally got up in the air on Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday and today. It's been a busy week of early morning briefs (where I have to answer a bunch of questions from the instructor about what we're doing that day, how the helicopter works, and what to do if stuff breaks) and flights every day on top of a class/test or two. I am a little tired, but I'm sure not sick of flying yet. I'm LOVIN' it. Finally, after almost two years of training in aircraft I'll probably never fly again, I finally get to strap on a real Navy helo and fly for real. Of course, I still have quite a bit more training to complete, but from here on out I'll be learning systems and equipment that I'll actually need to know how to use.

As for the flying itself, like any nugget, there is something of a learning curve. My first couple laps through the pattern, steep approaches, and practice auto-rotations were pretty ugly. But today I felt like I was really starting to catch on, I can make the aircraft do what I want it to do (most of the time).

Another great thing about the FRS (Fleet Replenishment Squadron) has been the relaxed atmosphere; a refreshing change from Advanced Training in Milton (although we had it pretty good at HT-18, I don't know how you HT-8 guys got through). Here, as long as you know your info, no one's gonna try and hammer you. The instructors are there to teach. They know you don't know everything (or sometimes anything) about flying these aircraft, and want to teach you how to do it. They're also a lot easier to talk to, no "sir, yes, sir" junk. Just learning the job.

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes

I finally went maternity clothes shopping on Monday!  Yay!  Clothes that actually fit!  I was surprised how great I looked in maternity clothes.  Instead of feeling big and fat, I felt very cute.  I realized that I just had to find the right size, which is slightly difficult with my build.  My friend, Heather, and I went to Motherhood Maternity and figured out that I just have to find the smallest size available.  Once we found my size (especially in jeans), it was great.  It seemed like I was trying on everything in the store.
I was very thankful to have Heather along with me.  I would have been really overwhelmed.  She helped me figure out what I needed, what I wouldn't wear, and what would fit up until the birth.  It was nice to have experienced input.

 This is me after my shopping experience.

Then....this morning I get a big package in the mail from my mom (Thanks Mom!).  I got MORE cute clothes.  I'm excited to wear them all.

Christmas Tree

Yesterday, Luke and I picked out our Christmas tree and set it up.  I got out all of our Christmas decorations and started decorating.  It's kind of funny because I still haven't put up our regular decorations in this house yet.  Hopefully I'll get to that before we host the progressive dinner for OCF next week.

This is one of my favorite ornaments.  It was given to us on our first Christmas by Luke's Grandma and Grandpa Lindemuth.

Our pretty star.  I love Christmastime!

The Growing Belly

So, multiple people have asked me for belly pictures...
Yes, I am actually pregnant.  There IS a belly under the clothes.  :)

 This is at 5 weeks.  I got pretty bloated, but I felt like my belly was growing.

This is at 18 weeks.  I'm actually starting to feel pregnant.  Yay!  Sorry to those of you who wanted the time line of pictures.  I didn't do very well documenting of the belly.

When I was 8 weeks, I got a bonus ultrasound.  Here's the story:  One morning I went out to get my hair cut at a nearby hair salon.  I was feeling a little weird that morning, which wasn't unusual during this time in pregnancy.  I was the only person at the salon that morning, along with my stylist.  She was chatting away while blow-drying my hair.  I suddenly felt very bad and hot.  I wanted to let her know I wasn't feeling very good, but she kept talking and I didn't want to interrupt her.  I started getting tunnel vision and knew I was going to pass out.  So I tried to get it out that 'I didn't feel good' and 'I'm pregnant' before I passed out.  The next thing I remember was waking up to a flurry of people in the room; one was holding me up in my chair and putting cold washcloths all over me.  I have no idea how long I was out, but they called an ambulance and away I went to the hospital.  It turned out that I was slightly dehydrated and the heat from the hair dryer on my head dropped my blood pressure.  But, after all that, I got a sonogram to make sure everything was okay.  It was nice because I ended up not getting a real doctor's appointment until I was 12 weeks along.

 This is at 12 weeks.

This is the picture taken at 17 weeks showing that we are having a boy!  When the doctor was moving the probe around and measuring the baby, I saw it and knew before he even said anything.  :)