9 Weeks

Tim splitting wood

(he has been working so hard)

I don't have a picture yet, I have lost about 13 pounds so the most visual I could give is the saggy front of my jeans! Things have been going alright, aside from the fairly severe morning sickness. But, boy can I sleep now!! I have had trouble sleeping most of my life and that, friends, is a thing of the past. I would say that the dogs and Tim are coping quite well. They just put up with the running to the sink or toilet nearest me and keep on smiling(or wagging as it were)

Tim has been amazing, he is now the house wife and the shopper and the errand runner and he takes it all in stride. My heart goes out to any woman who has been sick with a pregnancy without the support of a good husband. So far I have continued to work and hope and pray that it will continue. Please keep us in your prayers. Especially Tim who I will likely exhaust in the next few weeks!!

We're Expecting

Tim's "6 week sympathy belly"

Much to our delight we are proud to announce that we are expecting a baby.

And don't worry, I am the one carrying it:)

I am roughly 6 weeks along and feeling every "green at the gills" moment.

Of course we would have loved to have called everyone personally, but what can we say, this really is a quick way to keep everyone posted.

We should have more details after I get into the doctor, but according to the fantastic due date calculators on the internet I will be due around August 7th, which is my little sister Kimmy's birthday. She has already offered a name suggestion, Kimothy. Cute isn't it?

Tim is excited, but right now he is trying to get me on with the local police force bomb squad. I seem to have acquired super-human sense of smell. I can smell the different metals of my pots and pans when I cook with them. Not to mention every other thing that wafts into my vicinity, it's really not the best super power, especially because half the smells make me "urpy".

So please keep the 3 of us in your prayers, we'll post as soon as we know more.

And thanks to Tim for posing for a "belly shot" He's the only one showing right now.

And then there was Austin

Mizz Austin

I'm sure you are looking at this picture and thinking, is that Quigley's cousin?

Not really, but she has a great story.

Near the end of October we were having a lazy, warm day at home. the dogs were napping in the sunshine, and I was "housewife-ing".

I felt this calling to go to the park near our house to run the dogs, and so, even though I really wanted to watch some ever so wholesome and rewarding reality t.v., I loaded up and went.

We were having a great time and I noticed what I thought was a cat laying in the grass a ways away. We circled the park a few times and it never moved so I decided to investigate.

Pisty is known as my "Ambassador Dog" because she has this great personality and all dogs and children are immediately engaged by her(and let's face it, even us adults are quite enamored with her) So we approached the black bump in the grass. We were shocked to see a very skinny pup, no bigger than Quigley, and clearly quite scared. I had brought along leftover pork chops for training and started to throw them around. Though scared, we had her hunger on our side and Pisty and I made friends with her, sharing our bounty of pork. We then fetched up Gunner and Quig who were tied to a soccer goal(score!) and proceeded to the car, hungry friend in tow. When she stopped to try and get a drink out of a mud puddle I knew this dog was on the lam.

I gave her some water out of our "Portable Pup Bowl" and invited her into the car, took her home and called the Humane Society. She had on a collar and registration, but no name tag. We were able to reach her owner, and sure enough, Austin had been missing for several days.

After the tears and shouts and thank-you's to God, we loaded up. And how ironic that Austin's owner worked at the Humane Society.

I cannot tell you how rewarding it was to call her owner when we arrived in the parking lot and hear running footsteps that revealed a tear-streaked, and smiling, face. The obvious excitement at the reunion was palpable from both parties.

It turned out that some workers had left the back gate open and Austin had 2 small children at home awaiting her return.

That day ended up being far more wholesome and rewarding than my t.v. shows.

I'm glad I heeded my calling that day....and so did Austin's belly.

Missing From Blogville

Brain and Kim

Tim and his "essence"



So, Yeah......I don't really know where I was off to, but it has been a while!!

These pictures are from a camping trip we took in September with our friends Brian and Kim. We had a blast together, and let me just tell you, they are some hiking fools!!!


But on another semi-related note......
I have a list of blogs in my favorites and I go on periodically to check out what's happening. Every now and then one of my frequent haunts will go dormant and I always think"Oh, I wish they had new stuff." I always assume that the things I blog about are not that interesting, but then again, it isn't to me, it's my life....I'm tuned in every day. But I wonder sometimes if it offers to others what I get from blog visits, a break from our own usual rythm, and a peek to see that other peoples rythms are refreshing. Even at times inspiring.



I have a huge community of Christian based bloggers and when I go on I see if they need prayer or just a kind word left in the comments. I am always amazed that just going on one blog can lead you to pray for a multitude of people, and I think it is fantastic that God can use this mighty web world to still see to His purpose.

And having that been said.......



This picture of Tim had me thinking.. it almost looks like his spirit is leaving his body. Of course it is not, it was due to the "nighttime" setting on the camera and the campfire. Just the same, I think about how our spirits are trapped inside of our bodies and that we have to always stop our bodies from doing the "wrong" things. The funny thing is that we never have to stop our spirits from doing the right things, do we. I wonder how our world would be if we let our spirits lead us more than our flesh does.....

I have found refreshing insight into this very thing in Galatians.

Chapter 5, Verse 22:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Maybe I'll follow my spirit around for awhile.

On My Mind, Jackson Ziwak

"I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing."Ezekiel34:26

( this is God on how he cares for us as His flock)

I'm sitting here Sunday morning thinking about Blessings. I am thinking about how they are always there, sometimes we stop to notice them, other times we don't. I am thinking also about how we have the ability to Bless others, without even that much effort.

Tim and I know a lovely woman named Cheryl, and her nephew, Jackson, fell from a second story window about a month ago. He suffered a brain injury and is currently on his way to recovery at The Children's Hospital in Denver. The family has set up a CarePage on the internet for others to check in and see his progress. I have told alot of my friends, family and clients about this little boy and I now have it on my heart to put him out there through the blog-world. I have been incredibly blessed through many blogs out there, and I'm hoping that Jackson can cash in on some of it. So please check it out, tell anyone that would pray for this family, or just say a quick prayer for him yourself. He has a long road ahead, and this family is trusting God with an amazing amount of peace in my opinion. Hold this family up, place them in your prayers.....they are already in the arms of the Lord. Lets all practice the gift of Blessing others!

Here is the website, just go on, click visit a care page, set up a username and password and the page name is Ziwak.

http://www.carepages.com/

Be Blessed Today.

Dem Bones

The "I'm taking this where you can't blind me with the flash" Techninque

The "Prop it up with the paws" Technique

The "Face on the floor" Technique

I'm sure that my sheer amusement with Quigley is bordering on Obsessive Hysteria, but I am a dog mom. Last night she was going to town on some basted bones and though it is much cuter in live action I got a couple of funny shots. I am trying so hard to enjoy these times of puppyhood. She is the 5th dog a have raised from 8 weeks and I have finally calmed down enough to just let it be and let her play silly puppy games(she loves to flail around in her bed and yap loudly), do semi-destructive puppy things(we currently do not own a pair of shoes with the hard plastic ends on the laces intact), and laugh a little when she does something pretty naughty(like steal wax out of the skin room trash).

I'm sure that it is that way with kids, the first time you are so uptight and wig out every time anything mildly upsetting happens, but by number 5 or so it is so much easier to enjoy because you know that the little things are not the end of the world.

Lucky Dog.

Ahhh......Remodeling

View from the Skincare Room, notice the lovely tile....and the showerhead mounted at 6"10" for Tim(technically it's his bathroom)He also picked the light fixtures which get alot of oohs and ahhs!

This is the after and before from inside the room.

This is the after and before from the Family Room.Jeff took out the wall to the left and raised the ceiling 4".He also re-configured the shower, he made the most of a tiny space!!

We have had the great blessing of being able to completely gut our lower level bathroom this summer. Painful as it was at times, we couldn't be happier with the end product. The whole ordeal was a learning experience and I would like to sincerely thank all of those involved, mainly my brother, Jeff, who handled alot of the beginning stages and is also responsible for the gorgeous tile work.

I also want to say thank-you to those who told me that a bathroom would run twice the time and money as originally planned........it made is less shocking when the time and money tripled!!!

I did have the foresight to snap some pics before demolition, but managed to not get a single shot of the various stages in between. I'm sure that it's o.k. I wouldn't want to scare anyone away from doing a bathroom in their house.

So here it is, the new and lovely, Lower Level Bath/Laundry Room!