Jonathan and Amanda

By now everyone should have received a couple rounds of the new weekly Academy advertisements in the red bags.  If you haven’t, it is because it is still laying in your lawn or in the gutter where it washed down the street and into a drainage ditch.   This is the seen each week in most Waco area neighborhoods that I have passed through.   Most of us probably don’t shop at Academy that often (I go every 2 or 3 months), and those of us that go more often probably already know what we are going to buy without looking at their ad.   So if the goal is to save money by avoiding postage, why not go a step further and save even more money by not throwing that worthless piece of paper in my yard, or anyone’s yard.   Who’s gonna miss it? I won’t even go into the environmental impact of printing that much paper and then purposely throwing it on the ground where some of us will leave it until it turns yellow and brittle,  some will throw it away, and few of us will actually read it.   While  the city of  Waco would like for us to take our  trash cans away from the curb and preferably store them out of site,  it is apparently OK for local businesses to throw litter all across town.  I think I will leave my trash can by the curb with the lid open and that’s where they can deliver their advertisements.

Last night Amanda and I went to see Cirque Shanghai-Bai Xi at the Hippodrome!  This was the most entertaining show I have ever been to, hands down!  These people were simply amazing with so much acrobatics, strength, choreography, daring stunts that defy gravity, and stunning costumes I still can’t believe they were able to do it all on such a seemingly small stage.   They are all Chinese and wear Chinese costumes and have Chinese props on stage and music to match.   They are all over the place with balancing acts, swinging from ropes,  juggling and tossing Chinese yo-yos, flipping and tumbling, unicycles, magic tricks, and  everything requires such extreme concentration and fine muscle control.  I thought the most entertaining act, if any one is actually better than the others, was the  yo-yos.  They are called diabolos and they aren’t actually attached to a string, instead they ride on top of a string stretched between two sticks,  so they can do all kinds of great tricks!  There were also some human pyramids and flexibility stunts that make you wonder if some of the girls on stage had their spines removed at some point!  It’s really rare that a show like this actually stops here so we didn’t think twice about buying the tickets, and it was well worth it!   On the way out I bought a diablolo and Amanda bought a decorative paper and bamboo umbrella for the baby room.  I’ve been playing all morning, and now I don’t know if I’ll ever pick up my old yo-yo again!  In fact, I’m going outside right now to practice some more.

We carved a pumpkin this weekend!  We used  a pattern that is supposed to be a cat staring at a little spider hanging in front of its face.  I’m not sure it really needs the spider.   Maybe we’ll do another one without the spider.

First we cleand out the inside.

Then I was feeling hungry.

Then we taped the pattern onto the pumpkin.

And punched holes all around the pattern. Excellent work Amanda!

Using a small carving tool we connected the dots.

Finally we punched out all the pieces.

Here it is in the dark!!

Time for  another update. We finally got a good recording of Baby’s heartbeat and another new picture of Amanda.  Visit the baby page to hear the mp3.  You have to click on the link and download the file.  Below is the most recent pic of Amanda.

As you can see, mommy is in good spirits.  The worst symptoms,  nausea for example, have subsided and she is able to enjoy life again.   Some muscle and joint aches are common now, but we can treat these with our new sofa and chair!  They arrived on Friday, much sooner than we thought.  Here’s a pic of the new pieces.  The final addition to complete our living room will be an entertainment cabinet my dad will build for us.  We are still making up our minds on the baby room.  A handfull of paint samples are stuck to the wall and we also have a dresser and a bookshelf and a glider in there now.   Amanda has cleaned out the closet to make room for baby stuff.   This weekend we are going to pick up a baby bed from Amanda’s sister and then the room will really start to look like something.  There are 5 months left and it seems like the first 4 flew by with out any warning.  We better hurry up and get ready!!!

We’ve been in Oklahoma City for 2 weeks now, which is about the time it takes for our small temporary apartment to feel like home. This place serves complimentary breakfast and dinner to its extended stay guests every day during the week so I can eat in the morning and Amanda can eat at night while I am at class and neither of us has to mess with cooking! This weekend we have tickets to the Kelly Clarkson concert at the Winstar Casino. Amanda had to find a new outfit for this one since most her ward robe is beginning to feel a little tight on her now.

My air conditioning class has been fun. Yesterday we spend the last 4 hours practicing cutting, bending, fitting, and brazing copper tubing for A/C refrigerant lines. Each person assembled his pieces into an air tight assembly then pressure tested them to make sure they hold 800 psi with no leaks, then the instructor punches a hole in our work and we get to patch the hole and pressure test it again. But A/C lines are subject to vibration and some abuse over their lifetime, so to simulate that, our instructor smashes and mangles our assemblies and puts them through the pressure test again. Mine passed!

On the family front, as we approach the third trimester, Amanda’s morning sickness(all day sickness) has diminished so she can eat more often and more of what she wants. I haven’t heard her complain about much besides lower back soreness. Otherwise she feels pretty good! Oh, speaking of eating, we found a great place called Beverly’s Pancake House for lunch yesterday. Omlettes and made-from-scratch pancakes that are amazing! Awesome hash browns too! We are going back soon to try out the dinner menu.

I’ve awakened my own appetite now so I’m off to the fridge.

Wow thats fast! That’s the fetus’ heartbeat we heard at our visit to the doctors office today.  There was also a heartbeat at her last visit but it was from an ultrsound and the heart wasn’t as developed then so it sounded more like whoosh-whoosh than the thump-thump we heard today.  We met also our obstetrician for the first time today and I thought he was a nice guy, although I know Amanda would have preferred a woman.  He answered all of our questions and assured us that all the uncomfortableness she is feeling is all normal.   He went ahead and gave us a prescription for some sleeping pills so so maybe she can at least get some relief at night now.   Mostly it is the fatigue and lack of energy during the day and inability to sleep at night that bother the most.   The doctor said kindly, that she’ll just have to tough it out.  I have faith that the Lord will give her the strength to make it through.  After all there is no going back now! 

Well we’re into week eight and Amanda is working hard!  She gets tired a lot, and for good reason.  So far she has laid the groundwork for every major system in the body!  There is a tiny circulatory system, nervous system,  digestive system,  little paddle like arms and legs are forming and she’s still been able to add about 100 cells per minute to the brain.   I never knew she was so talented!   And such a fast worker!  As I am the on-site supply manager I have been keeping the staging area stocked with plenty of nutritious construction materials.  I’m also head of morale  so I have to provide some form of entertainment and make sure she takes some time off to go outside and provide regular positive human interaction.  Having a puppy and kitten on site has also proven to have positive effects.  Our next inspection is scheduled for August 18th, but I’m sure everything will be up to spec   We’ll let ya know.

Amanda had an ultra sound today and the doctor said everything looks good!
Heart rate is 120 and it is .86 cm long.
Here is one of the pictures!

We just finished our we’re-having-a-baby tour this weekend! Yes, you are correct to assume what that statement implies! We decided to tell everyone in our immediate family in person all in one weekend. So we visited Amanda’s mom on Thursday in Wilmer, and my parents on Friday in Bryan, then after taking Saturday for ourselves, we visited the rest of Amanda’s family in Lewisville on Sunday to give her dad and her siblings the good news. The rest of you guys will find out … right now! Or the next time we see you, or when Amanda makes the big post on Facebook.

When did we find out? Amanda had been pretty tired for a few days and had finally started feeling nauseous last Monday so she decided to try one of the tests, then another, and another! She went to the doctor last Monday afternoon to confirm that the handful of positive tests she took that same morning were all correct, and they were! I arrived home while she was at the doctor’s office and didn’t know any better so I proceed to work up a sweat cleaning the garage. It’s a good time for me to do that kind of thing while her Jeep is out of the way. So when she gets home there I am a little dirty with some grease on my hands and starting to look a bit more like an sweaty auto mechanic than an electronics technician. She looked at me than glanced at the mess I had made in the process of my “cleaning” and asked if I might be coming inside any time soon. “I suppose,” I replied, and then she went on in. Not knowing what to make of the brief greeting, I finished rolling up the cord I was holding and went in to find out what I did this time. Turns out she wasn’t actually upset about anything. I was just not in the location where I should have been when she got home that particular day. She handed me one of the tests and I was pretty sure what she meant by showing it to me, but the lines on those things are confusing so she explained that it was positive! Wow! We had prayed about this before and asked the Lord to be sovereign over this area of our lives and bless us with a baby when He felt we were ready. That was quick! I thought we’d have more time to get ready, but I guess we’re ready enough for him.

Since then we have set up more doctors appointments, bought a few books such as What to Expect When You’re Expecting, started restocking the pantry, researching pregnancy, and reviewing our insurance. We also have Amanda’s old baby bed so we’ve been comparing it against modern safety standards before we decided if we will finish it. Apparently modern babies are more clever today than 27 years ago! Thus begins the next segment of our life’s journey! We will keep posting updates and some pictures. I ‘ll be making a separate baby page soon and hopefully we’ll get a little sonogram picture to put on it this week!

Today on our canoe trip, we saw tons of stumps in the water along the edges. The scenery was quite peaceful as we floated along undisturbed. There was the unfortunate sound of  distant cars on the bridge, but the background noise seemed far away while we were surrounded by nature. After heading a short way down river, we noticed one very old, very dead looking stump sticking out of the water by itself. It must have broken off ages ago, turned almost white by the passage of time. It could have passed for a huge piece of chalk.

As we got closer, we realized that peeking out of the very top of it was a tiny green plant. We rowed over to it, and with nothing else near it, this decaying stump had sprouted new life, like a tiny miracle unnoticed by most. For some reason, this made me feel quite philosophical and overwhelmed. It’s just so beautiful, this small, subtle, unexpected spring of life practically screaming “HOPE” at the top of its teeny lungs. If you believe in second chances, and third, and fourth ones, like I do, then this would have been a profound moment for you too. What a joyful thing to see as we were gliding down the river on a sunny day! I’m no Pollyanna, but if that doesn’t get you right in the center of your being, nothing will.

The message I clearly saw from the baby stem on the otherwise lifeless stump was that we should always have hope because anything is possible. There is always something new, no matter how dead, lost, or gone it seems. If that chunk of wood can inspire growth, how much more can a person become something extraordinary? After all, the dead log never stopped trying. This has many implications for people. What does that mean for us? I encourage you to draw your own conclusions. Mine is simply this- There is no such thing as a lost cause. It’s never too late.

There’s certainly a lot of Bible verses to go along with this. Probably half the book! Hope, new creation, life from death, endless possibilities, faith… Reflect on these subjects for a minute. A picture like this makes it all quite breathtaking.

Here’s a photo of a different stump sprouting life, but the one I wrote about was so itty bitty that the pics didn’t turn out great. There were too many shadows of overhanging trees and vines blowing around. This one is taller and demonstrates the point. Yes, I was happy to see this one too, later down the river.

Job 14:7
For there is hope for a tree,
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.