From 2012 to 2013....

From 2012 to 2013.....

I can honestly say that 2012 has practically been a blur! I don't even remember what I did to bring in 2012! To be completely honest, I feel like I've been pregnant for a year now! I know we have stayed super busy with tons of church activites, family visits, Bekah's birth, and of course finding out about our precious little one! (5 weeks or less, yeah!!!) 2012 was a good year for the Lowery's, we have nothing to complain about! Here are a few pictures from the past year. We are SO excited about 2013, as we will welcome Virginia Lynn into the world and to see what the future has in store for us!! 

We had a water pipe leak in our attic, which caused an impromptu house renovation! 

In the spring we made a trip to Georgia to watch Josh's younger brother Seth play lacrosse! Then we went up to the lake house for a little fun. Seth got the golf cart stuck! :) 

Welcoming the birth of our sweet neice, Rebekah Elaine Adair! I didn't know I could love a baby the way I love that sweet thing! 

Judgement House! One of my FAVORITE events to help host at Eastwood! 

And of course finding out about our sweet Virginia Lynn! We can't wait! 

This is just a glimpse of SOME of what we did! Can't wait for 2013! We already have beach trips and a ski trip in the works and with a new baby, I know it will all be an adventure! 

32 Weeks! :)

32 WEEKS!!!!

I'm sorry, I can't contain my excitement. Only 8 more weeks! I do feel like our countdown has been put on a standstill for the past few weeks though. It's like the first 2 trimesters FLEW by and now this 3rd is just creeping by......Maybe when the Christmas holiday gets into full swing, we will start seeing some progress, haha! 

I'm feeling pretty good, for the most part! I can't do as much as I used to. I need my toe nails painted, the little ones (the older ones) that I'm keeping don't get picked up as much. Just little Hunter man usually. Which I LOVE that I get to keep everyday! :) I'm having to be aware of the sickness around me. I did NOT get the flu shot because the 3 times I have gotten it before I got the flu, so my doctor said "probably not a good idea!" I get tired very easily, I've learned NO trip to Walmart will be quick! Especially if all I need is a gallon of milk in the back of the store! I can't bend down and pick things up with any grace at all. 

Virginia Lynn's room is ALMOST done! We still have a few last minute things to do. Mom is making her bedding, her bedskirt is done, all that's left is to sew up one part of the quilt and to finish her bumper pads. (I'll post pictures of the finished product!) Michelle is going to paint a few things for her room, but I had not decided what I wanted until this past week, so she will be able to start on it soon now. I've just about got it all organized like I want it! :) 

This sweet baby girl is kicking and twisting and punching and rolling. She is VERY active and I wouldn't have it any other way! I love to SEE her move as much as I love to feel her move! There is only one part of the day she is still and resting, and that's usually in the late afternoon, from 2-5ish. But I feel her all during the night too! Hope this baby doesn't already have her days and nights mixed up! 

According to my app, she is anywhere from 17-19 inches and weighs more than 4 1/2 pounds! I hate to wish the time away, but I can't wait to hold my baby girl! 

30 Weeks

It's been a minute since I last blogged. I started the 30 days of Thanksgiving, but I did not finish it. That does not mean I am NOT thankful! I have PLENTY to be thankful for! Maybe I can finish it soon. :)

Holy cow! I am 30 weeks pregnant! How did that happen so fast? In 10 weeks or less, I will be holding my sweet baby girl! She is still kicking, punching, jabbing, etc. She lets me know she is in there for sure! She knows when her Daddy walks in the door from work, because she usually wakes up from a nap around then! I am now going to the doctor every 2 weeks for check ups. I successfully passed my sugar test! (I was worried, I'm not going to lie!) We are slowly finishing up her room. I'll post pictures when it's finished!

On Sunday, the wonderful ladies of my WMU Peculiar Treasures group hosted a baby shower for myself & Virginia Lynn! Everything was BEAUTIFUL!!

I got a ton of great stuff that will definitely be used!! 

Everyone keeps asking how I'm feeling. Pretty good....most of the time! I have the crud for the 3rd time since being pregnant and it is NOT fun! There isn't too much I can take but since I have had it before, I know the tricks to making it through the day and part of the night! Sleep doesn't come easy anymore, it is very hard to get comfortable! I roll from my left to right side ALL night! I'm learning quickly that my body can't do all the things I used to! 

COUNTDOWN: 10 WEEKS!!!

Thanksgiving-Part 1

Days 1-9 of thankfulness:

I have decided to pursue this a little differently. Instead of posting daily on Facebook or Twitter, I will blog about it at the end of the week.

Day 1: Sleep. I'm not even going to lie. When I woke up on November 1st those were my first thoughts. We had just completed 3 very late nights of Judgement House, and a very long week of preparing and setting up. So, the fact that I got to sleep to 10 AM on a Thursday was magical!

Day 2: I am thankful that God decided to bless Josh and I with a child. All I have ever wanted was to be a mommy and He has granted me with this miracle. Please do not ever take your ability to carry a child for granted.

Day 3: I am thankful for Josh. When Josh and I started dating, I thought "God, you sure do have a sense of humor!" because in high school, Josh and I would have never been caught even hanging out together. But it's amazing how God changes people (for the better.) And when I say changes people, I don't just mean Josh. A lot of my friends would say "he must have changed since high school". Yes, yes he did, but God changed me too. When Josh & I started dating, I wasn't the same person I was in high school. We had both changed, matured, and basically we grew up. God knew exactly what he was doing when He put this man in my life. He is the best husband a girl could ask for. He takes care of me and is protective in just the right ways. He loves the Lord and he loves this baby God is giving us. He is one of the hardest workers I know. Sometimes I have to remind him to slow down. On this day, I was very grateful for him because when Hurricane Sandy hit, and he was asked to go to Virginia for 2 weeks to help restore power he went. He returned home after only a week on November 3rd, and after a very long week of Judgement House, I was SO thankful to see him! :)

Day 4: I am thankful for my church family. Eastwood Baptist Church has always been my home. It is the best support group you could ever ask for. It's home. :)

Day 5: I am thankful for my sister, JENN! Her birthday is on November 5th, so this works out well! She is always there to listen when I need to cry, and she often brings out the child in me, ha!

Day 6: I am thankful for my best friend, CANDIS! Her birthday is on November 6th. :) We may have an age difference, that most might see as odd for best friends, but it has never been an issue for us. She came into my life when she called needing a babysitter for Ally & Ty. I never knew when I showed up at the "dirty house" in Bermuda that I would be welcoming one of the sweetest families into my life. Candis has taught me A LOT! Our motto has always been "We've been through it all...." From emergency room trips, breakups, weddings, sickness, and here recently pregnancy and the birth of her 3rd child! We have had a lot of cries, and lot more laughs! I have learned so much from her, and am so thankful for her friendship. :)

Day 7: I am thankful for my sister, MICHELLE! We have not always got along, but as we have grown up, that is changing. We are learning a lot from each other, especially over this past year. I'm so glad I have my sister as a best friend to help me with the motherhood as that time slowly (or quickly!) approaches! She is the best Momma to Bekah!

Day 8: I am thankful for my niece, REBEKAH! Have I mentioned how incredibly awesome this little girl is? My sister and brother in law made the coolest little kid. She may only be 4 months old but she stole my heart from the moment I heard her first cry. I can't wait for Virginia Lynn to get here so I can see how great of friends they will be! :)

Day 9: I am thankful for my parents! They are often my rock when I need someone to lean on. I'm so proud to say that I have good Christian parents that instilled in me the goodness and mercy of Christ. They taught me to turn to Him when all else fails. :)

****These days of thankfulness are by no means in order of the things I am thankful for!

Judgement House 2012-Behind the Family Portrait

Words cannot express how my heart soars when hearing the words "Judgment House". My family has been a part of this event that Eastwood Baptist Church puts on since the very first year. We not only participated but after a few years, my Daddy took on role as "director". As kids, my sisters and myself never got to trick or treat much, but honestly, I never remember missing it. JH was always so much "FUN". Funny that as a child that's how I remember it, even as a teenager, it was fun more than anything. It's not until I became an adult that it meant a lot more. I have always known the point:

To share the gospel with our community.

A lot of people come to JH with the anticipation of being scared, or that it is something of a hell house or haunted house. That is the farthest things to what Judgement House is. 

If you have never been, allow me to explain: 

Judgement House is not a made up thing by EBC. It is an actual organization, check it out here. You have to buy into the covenant, which is not a cheap thing to do. (per us begging for donations!) When buying the covenant, you receive a script of your choice, and all rights to advertise with the JH logo (and a lot of other technical things). 

1. We select a script. On the website, they have many options, with descriptions. The directors read over the options, and we decided on our top 3 favorite. We then contacted the JH organization and ask them to send us the preview DVD of the 3 selected choices. After watching the DVD's, we decide which is our favorite. I'm sure it is ALL God, but we have NEVER not all been in agreement of which was the one we should do. We always watch it and can see the layout through the church. (Which is VERY important!) We can usually see who should play which role, and etc. 

2. Start our "committees". Come on guys, we're Southern Baptist, OF COURSE we have committees! 

This includes, advertising, food, guides, counselors, acting, scene set-up, prayer, etc. We have a WHOLE lot that has to come together. 

3. We have always set the date for JH to be within 3 nights around Halloween but the process starts LONG before then. We start praying/preparing/planning as early as June. It really is a 5 month planning process! And we always need all the help we can get! 

4. Start selecting actors. We have a sign up sheet as early as August, with many different options:

Adult speaking, adult non-speaking, children speaking, children non-speaking, youth speaking, youth non-speaking, etc. You get the picture. And just because you sign up for one of these things, does not mean you will necessarily get it. Or, you may think you will have one part, and show up for rehearsal and we might have to move you to a totally different part. (We prayer for flexibility!) 

5. We then assign different scenes to different parts of the church, usually making it all flow nicely. When going through Judgement House, you go from room to room watching a "play", I guess you could say. This year our theme was "Behind the Family Portrait", featuring the Jernigan Family: Hank, June, Matt & Sam. Hank is an abusive father that has a problem with alcohol. He has hit daughter Sam & wife June many times, and he often gets in fights with son Matt. We usually have several people portray these characters. We dress them all the same. So all of our Hank's had on a white shirt, June, black, Matt, blue & Sam, red. This way you can follow each character in every scene. 

Example: 

Scene 1: It started in the Jernigan's living room. Hank had just hit his daughter Sam. Her brother Matt gets so mad that he tries to get in a fight with his father, while wife/mother June comes in and tries to break up the fight. Everyone in the family is so sick of fighting.

Scene 2: This was a classroom scene for Sam. She is with her best friend Todd. He notices that she has a black eye and points out that she has been having a lot of "accidents". She confesses that her father has been abusive. Todd has been trying to witness to Sam for a very long time. At this time, she realizes that she really does need Jesus in her heart, and she wants to share this joy with her family in hopes that it will change their family.

Scene 3: Todd invited Sam & Matt to a youth Bible study at his church. Sam loves the church and can't wait to be involved, while Matt makes the decision that he wants nothing to do with God or the church.

Scene 4: Todd was taking Sam & Matt home from church, when they were all in a car wreck, which tragically killed all 3 of them. 

Scene 5: This was actually a split scene, half the room was the Jernigan's living room, the other half is a hospital waiting room. The scene starts out with Hank & June fighting over bills, when they see on the news that there was an accident not far from their house, and they notice the car looks like Todd's. They rush to the hospital. At the hospital they learn that both of their children and Todd did not make it. Their hearts are crushed. 

Scene 6: This is called the Judgement scene. In the Bible, it says we will all face judgement, if during our time on earth we accept Jesus as our Savior, we will get the gift of eternal life in Heaven with Jesus! But if we deny Jesus, and do not accept this gift, we will face hell. This scene shows a glimpse of how we think Judgement might be.

Scene 7: Hell Scene

Scene 8: Heaven Scene

After you have completed the walk through, we take the group to what we call counseling. Your guide leaves you here while someone presents the gospel. If you feel led, you are welcome to sit down and speak with someone one on one. 

I won't go into the nitty gritty details of planning, that will kind of ruin the fun and mysteriousness of JH. 

We had a great year of JH this year. We had 714 people come through, and 10 accepted Christ as Savior and 4 that rededicated their lives! :) It was a great week, and makes all the hard work well worth it!

Week 26 & 27

Week 26 & Week 27

November 9, 2012

I have done a terrible job at blogging over the last few weeks, but it has been TOTAL chaos around here! 

I am doing well. My belly is growing, daily. And this baby is kicking like CRAZY! I am now going to the doctor every 2 weeks for check ups because, surprisingly enough, it's that time! I feel like time has flown by but then again it hasn't as well. It feel likes it was 3 years ago I was sneaking off to the store after VBS to my my hpt. :) When in reality, 3 years ago I was getting married, haha! The countdown is so close now, it's kind of scary.

12 WEEKS!

We are so excited! Last night I said to Josh, "Can you believe in 12 weeks or less, we will have a baby on this side of the bed!?"  Of course pointing to my side (in a bassinet!). His response was, "You mean this side?" as he pointed to his. HA! He's so funny. :) 

Heartburn and indigestion are about to get the best of me. Tums Smoothies are my new bff, and I'm not even exaggerating. I've had a few cases of it so bad that it made me feel like I was back in the 1st trimester. But not too much where I can't eat. Oh yeah, eating. I do that, A LOT! Poor Josh, he probably thinks I live in the kitchen......... or the bathroom, because I have to potty OFTEN! 

We are slowly getting things together for Virginia Lynn's nursery. We still have a TON to do! I'm hoping we will get more done over Christmas holidays. Josh & I both took the whole week off of Christmas, so maybe if I can keep Josh away from the woods long enough we can get something accomplished! :) 

14 more weeks!

25 Weeks
October 26, 2012

As I lay here in the recliner that has become my best friend and actually SEE my sweet little girl kick and punch me, I am reminded to SLOW DOWN! I have been so busy running around getting things ready at the church for Judgement House that I feel like I am going to look back and miss these days. I already feel like this entire pregnancy has flown by and when I pull up my "What To Expect" app on my iPhone and see that my countdown says:

14 Weeks 3 Days

Holy Toledo Batman! 

I feel like my belly is growing by the second! I'm outgrowing some of my maternity clothes from the earlier part of my pregnancy and passing them on to my other expecting mommy friends. :)

I'm feeling pretty good for the most part, my back doesn't hurt nearly as much as it did a few weeks ago, but I have stopped lifting the kiddos as much. Sleep is not coming easy at night, but I have found a few tricks that makes it easier. For this belly sleeper, I don't know that I will adjust completely until after Virginia Lynn arrives! I move a little slower, I don't walk nearly as fast I used to, which is probably a good thing. JH is going to wear me out next week, I can already feel it! My weight gain according to my scale is about +3 since my last doctors appointment, which still puts me at -2 from pre-pregnancy weight. But have I mentioned I'm hungry? I eat ALL the time! I have a growing baby, I need to feed her, right? :)

We are down to 3 months, it's time to get the nursery complete for sure! :)

SMILE!

NO possible way that you can watch this and not smile even a little bit!

I have been watching Ty dance since he could walk, and I'm pretty sure he has made me smile every time! I love this little fella! 

Fire Prevention

Dawson has been in this phase for a few weeks where he points to EVERYTHING and says,

"What's dat?"
And he won't give up on you until you answer him and explain to him what it is and does! I say it is no coincidence that last week he kept pointing to the smoke detector and saying "What's dat?" the same weekend as the Fire Prevention Parade here in Monroeville. Although, I didn't know about the parade until Saturday morning when my mom and cousin blew my phone up to wake me up to go. (We are very serious about our parades!)

I was able to get a few goodies to bring home and I couldn't wait to show Dawson & Gillian! Monday's are usually not the best day for projects around here, so I waited until today (Tuesday) and when the other babies were already down for there naps to talk about the smoke detector.

First, I let them watch this video below:

At first I don't think they were too interested, but then they heard the word "smoke alarm"! And the video shows how it beeps, and Dawson kept pointing to mine and wanted it to beep. After the video, I explained that when my smoke alarm beeps, that means we have a fire in the house. I asked both of them what we need to do if it beeps, and their response shocked me! Gillian pointed to the front door and Dawson said "outside!" Such smart kids! 

I then brought out these cute little coloring books:

..and these awesome hats!! 

They were thrilled and wanted to wear them all morning! 

Happy Fire Prevention Week! 

Virginia Lynn Update!

23 Weeks
October 9, 2012

Only 17 more weeks left! This pregnancy has definitely flown by! I cannot believe we are down to the "teen countdown", it's hard to believe at Christmas we will be down to 6 weeks!

Baby girl is kicking like CRAZY! Josh THINKS he felt her a few nights ago, but he is not being very patient. It is starting to be harder thumps and more often, so maybe it won't be long!

In my first trimester I lost 12 pounds, I have now gained 7 of those pounds back. So I am still not quite to my starting weight. My doctor is not worried, so neither am I! I guess that just means it won't take long and I'll be gaining more. :|

Virginia Lynn is the size of an ear of corn! Which puts her at 8.5 inches and 1.5 pounds. At my appointment on Thursday the US Tech said she was very long. :)

Thursday turned out to be an exciting day for this Momma! Here is a little picture & video of the ultra sound.

We were able to go to Babies R Us, so I could finish my registry! I started it online but needed to go in the store to do some of the other stuff. I was also planning on ordering Virginia Lynn's crib. The week before a lady told me that it was discontinued and I probably couldn't get the one I wanted. HA! Thursday I had a different lady and she told me the other girl didn't know what she was talking about. I was able to bring home the crib that very day! Here is a peak at her Daddy putting it up and the finished product! (with her pretty purple rug!)  

We also made a trip to the fabric store where we finished buying the rest of the material for Virginia Lynn's bedding! 

Momma is making her bedding, here is the quilt she is working on! :) 

We bought a simple white dresser to go in her room as well, but I don't have a picture of it. I found this cute corner changing table that Josh is going to build. We found it on Pinterest, this is the picture off of there...

I have been feeling pretty good for the most part. I am having the normal heart burn/indigestion that comes with pregnancy, but nothing too bad that I can't handle. I've had some lower back pain as well, but my doctor gave me some exercises to help with that. 

We are so excited about our little girl making her entrance! 

22 Weeks

22 Weeks
October 1, 2012

Countdown: 18 Weeks, 0 Days

Size: 8 inches, 1 pound! Virginia Lynn is the size and shape of a SMALL DOLL! Well, of course she's a doll. ;)

This little princess is kicking like crazy! Not an hour goes by where she doesn't let her presence be known! I love to lay in bed at night and feel her kick, but that has me a little worried that she may be a night owl when I'm ready to go to bed. She also likes to kick early in the morning as well, so she could be an early bird like her daddy. I found something on Pinterest that fits me about right...

Maybe VLL will be an 11:30 AM person too :) (Yes, I know...I'm in for a rude awakening. Very little sleep and all that jazz!) Luckily, well so far, Josh has promised to help with late nights and early mornings. Guess we will just have to wait and see. (Fingers crossed!)

Last night, Mom, Michelle, Bekah and I met Aunt Tammy and Ally in Mobile and went to the Kidz Klozet Consignment sale for New Mom's! It was a lot to take in for a first timer of this kind of sale but it was also a lot of fun! I got a laundry basket full of pretty clothes! I can't wait for our house to halfway be back to normal so I can start on Virginia Lynn's room and hanging up her clothes!

I'm also looking forward to my ultra sound on Thursday! Can't wait to see and hear my little girl! :-) 

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!" Psalms 126:3