My Life in Black and White

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T08:31:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas...

Happy Thanksgiving...

and Happy Halloween, too, since I missed them.

You might be a SAHM if...

2009-12-19T21:02:00.002-06:00

Hi.

So, it's been awhile, huh? No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. If you are reading this, you either... a) Were shocked to receive an e-mail alert saying that I had posted something new, b) had tremendous faith that I would someday return and update the blog again or c) haven't visited in so long that "Bailey is 4 weeks old" is news to you.

Regardless, here goes my first blog post in a few months, a brief reflection on one of my life's biggest changes.

You might be a stay-at-home mom if...

10. Your last blog post was 3 months ago. Neither your e-mail nor Facebook account is getting much attention, either.

9. A stroller is your new exercise machine.

8. Going "to town" will be your biggest challenge of the week.

7. You've traded your listening device from MP3 player to baby monitor.

6. "Naptime" used to mean a Sunday afternoon siesta, but now it means get as much done as possible.

5. You wear slobber in your hair more often than hairspray.

4. Singsong is your normal tone of voice.

3. You cannot determine what the strange liquid is on your pants or how long it's been there. You don't bother changing clothes.

2. You put on lounge pants, a T-shirt and a hoodie, and your husband asks, "Where are you going?"

1. You now know what it means to have a full-time job.

And yes, I am loving it.

Bailey is 4 weeks old!

2009-09-26T17:06:00.015-05:00

Yes, I realize I’ve only blogged once in a month. Hopefully, this is not a new trend. I’ve just been sort of tied up taking care of a little person 24/7. And oh, the things we’ve learned!

Taking a shower and brushing my teeth have become big accomplishments. I am proud to say I’ve managed to do both every day. Makeup is icing on the cake. Can’t say I haven’t missed a day of that.

In a shocking twist of events, I am no longer the boss. One clear example: Yesterday, Bailey was lying on her play mat when she decided to take a nap. Of course, no nap is complete without her purple pacifier. The pesky thing won’t stay in her mouth long, so she recruits a willing adult to hold it in for her until she falls asleep. So there I was, lying on the floor still in my pajamas having had no shower or even breakfast, holding a pacifier. Bailey, on the other hand, was well fed, clean and dressed. Yep, we see who now rules our roost.

I have become familiar and have fallen in love with this baby’s sounds and facial expressions. It’s funny how that attachment grows. …Even the little things, like how she holds one of her legs out straight when she eats. One of my favorites is when her eyes are open wide and her lips make an “O” shape. I enjoy hearing her voice, even when she cries. In the past few days, she has begun to coo a little. I’ve been amazed at how much my world changes in the space between a cry and a smile on this tiny face.

When Bailey is asleep, she’s knocked out, but when she’s awake, she’s very alert. In the past few days, she’s seeing a lot more. She watches people and can follow you across the room with her eyes. She’s noticed a few of her toys for the first time, like the ones hanging from her Pack ‘N Play and these above her play mat.

Homegirl canNOT keep a sock on. We have baby socks strewn all over the house where she’s kicked them off somehow, usually 2 seconds after I’ve put them back on for the 14th time.

Her bouncy seat (courtesy of Auntie Lola) is one of Bailey’s most used possessions. Many, many naps have come as a result of this jewel.

On the other hand, her world would be a much happier place if there were no diaper changes. She’ll never let you know she has a dirty diaper because she is so adamant about avoiding this process. Changing clothes is even more terrible. I have learned that if you don’t strap on the diaper just right, it leaks. And leaks. And leaks.

Baths are okay, except when it comes to having her back washed.

Daddy gave Bailey her first bottle on Wednesday, and she drank the whole thing. She had another 5 ounces or so last night when her GG kept her. I think she’ll just take anything she can get.

For several nights in a row, she fell asleep around 11, waking up at 2 or 3 a.m. to stay up 3 or 4 hours. Thank goodness, that trend has ceased for now. She’s done better the last couple of nights. She sleeps most of the day, too. I guess young babies sleep a lot.

Yep, just as soon as you think you’ve learned a baby, everything changes.

Bailey and I are going to try to go to church for the first time tomorrow morning. We’ll see how that goes. She’s been to the church building a few times already to visit Daddy at work and to take her stroller (a.k.a., the Cadillac) for a spin.

Other outings include two checkups at her pediatrician (Dr. Barron and Dr. Benak, the same ones I saw growing up); an early supper at Old Mexico; Anna, Abby and Jacub’s house; grandparents’ houses; the park; and a trip to Target to pick out a sling (the jury is still out on whether she hates it or loves it). Bailey seems to be okay with trips out of the house – she sleeps the entire time – but they still make Mama a little nervous. I guess I fear she’ll have a meltdown away from the security blanket of home and I won’t be able to handle it.

I’m definitely ready for the weather to cool off a little so we can spend more time outside.

On a different note, Gunter’s liver biopsy yielded good results, though the experience itself was not the most pleasant. Dr. A said the liver scarring was minimal and could be reversed with healthy diet and exercise. We’ll go back to see him in December.

I guess that’s enough recapping for the month. Thanks for hanging in there for the long post and for not giving up on the blog! I’ll leave you with a few more pictures.

Say hello to our new addition!

2009-09-10T11:11:00.008-05:00

Hello from motherhood and my brand new way of life! I'm pleased to announce that Bailey Lynn Akridge was born on August 25 at 10:06 p.m., the most beautiful 8 pounds and 3 ounces of baby you've ever seen.

It's been a long couple of weeks, and I purposely waited to blog until after the vicious "baby blues" had subsided. My tear ducts are still a little leaky, but I'm 100 times better than I was just a few days ago. Seriously, I have never lived through such emotional turmoil before.

I think we're all well now. Gunter and I are doing our best to learn how to understand Bailey's needs and meet them. She is such a good baby. We're actually getting some sleep at night, and she seems to be eating well, though every day is different. I love her more all the time, and I'm slowly getting adjusted to taking care of a baby 24/7. I don't know what I would have done without some very helpful new grandparents, prayer from friends and one amazing husband.

So here she is, the baby we waited so long to meet. You're going to be seeing a lot more of this darling face.

Almost check-in time

2009-08-24T12:21:00.003-05:00

Hello from this side of labor! If all goes as planned (when does that ever happen?), today is my last full day of this pregnancy. 40 weeks is a long time.

Gunter and I have enjoyed the past few days. Highlights include our family all coming to see us one more time while I’m still pregnant, a movie date, trying a Japanese restaurant in town with a couple of friends, watching two Tyler Perry plays on DVD and tying up loose ends. We split a big Diet Coke at the movies, the first I’ve had in I can’t remember when. Bailey didn’t seem to mind. The weather has taken on a tinge of fall, and it’s beautiful, though now both of us have sinus trouble. Gunter has done very well with his new healthy diet. We’ve become quite educated on the fat content of various foods. Some restaurants’ nutrition facts have shocked us. We discovered that fat free milk is not bad after all, even for me, the milkaholic. We started work on our choir Christmas cantata, “All Bow Down” by Travis Cottrell. I read Baby Wise, but I don’t think I’ll understand it until I know what caring for a baby is actually like. Gunter finished stripping the paint from a dresser for the nursery. Lots of getting up during the night and lots of feet-propping. Lots of “You haven’t had that baby yet?!” I realized this morning that if I were pregnant one more day, there’s no way I could paint my toenails myself. Having TV in the hospital will be kind of like vacation for us. We haven’t had cable since we got married, and we’ve had no TV since we moved to Brockton.

It’s strange to think that Gunter and I are about to go through such an experience together. He mentioned last night that it’s even more special to him because it hasn’t been so long ago that we went through other life-changing experiences that weren’t so happy. Sometimes I still think of us as those little kids who met in third grade or those high school friends who cut up together. Life is such an adventure.

I’ve had moments of nervousness about the next couple of days, but I’m not nervous right now. Last night, I worried about all the swine flu talk going around since I’m about to spend a few days in a hospital and bring a baby into this germy world, but I’m over it for now. I can’t miss enjoying this because of something over which God already has control.

We’re still hoping I’ll go into labor before tomorrow morning, but if not, I’m okay with that. No, I’m not going to jog, ride a dirt road or take castor oil. Walking is painful, but I do what I can, my front yard is a bumpy enough ride, and I’ve heard the castor oil horror stories.

So, I guess I’ll see you on the flip side. I’ll post pictures as soon as I can.

A liver story

2009-08-20T09:22:00.004-05:00

I know I’ve been talking about cooking more than usual lately, but I have a new challenge, one I shouldn’t be so overwhelmed by, but I sort of am. Just as I’ve gotten back into cooking on a regular basis (well, regular for me), now I have to learn to do it healthy.

Not that my cooking is that unhealthy. We’re not talking Paula Dean good and fattening. We from South Alabama start out well. We cook with chicken, fish, fresh vegetables and lean meat. But then, we like to make it taste good.

Gunter got some good news and some bad news Tuesday. The good news is there was no recurrence of cancer on his CT scans. The bad news is that he has nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Basically, his body doesn't break down fat well and it ends up in his liver. Fatty liver disease can be reversed with a healthy diet, but if left untreated for some time, it can cause cirrhosis and liver failure.

So, he’s supposed to be careful about what he eats, cutting way down on all the things we’ve always been told are bad – fats, margarines, carbs that turn into sugar (like bread and pasta), artificial sweeteners, etc. – and eat more fresh (raw) fruits and vegetables, along with some high-quality protein.

This is sad, but as we were reading about this kind of diet, one of my first questions was, “How do you cook without margarine? Is butter better?”

Obviously, I’m in need of some ideas of things to cook that follow these guidelines as closely as possible and still be something he’ll eat. Between the two of us, I’m the one who likes fruits, vegetables and whole grains. He’s more of a meat, potatoes and bread kind of guy. Hopefully, he can learn to adapt his tastes, kind of like when you’ve weaned yourself off soft drinks and sweet tea for a while and you actually want water.

Really, if we’d just eat food the way God provides it for us – as is – we wouldn’t have so many health problems.

Any advice from all you health-conscious cooks out there?

Countdown to D-Day: 5 days or less

2009-08-19T14:36:00.003-05:00

We just got back from the doctor, and he says if Bailey is not born by Monday, we'll spend the night in the hospital and induce Tuesday morning...on her due date.

I have mixed feelings about this. I'm excited that we should have a baby within a week (WHAT?!), but I'd still rather she come on her own. Makes me feel like we're forcing or rushing, even though she's probably been ready for weeks. But, inducing means my doctor would be there to deliver, and I like that. I would say I like the predictability of inducing, but I know that birth is anything but predictable, no matter how it happens.

Funny, I'm still not nervous. Maybe I'm in denial?

We'll see what happens between now and Monday. It's still all in God's hands. ...And maybe is influenced by that lady who works at Chick-Fil-A in Montgomery. She predicted Bailey would be born this weekend, and then rubbed a blessing on my stomach.

Everything else still looks good with the baby, except her head is a little high. My blood pressure, weight gain, etc., is still normal, though "everything looks good" would probably not be the most appropriate phrase to describe me right now.

Face to face...almost

2009-08-13T20:56:00.005-05:00

Here are Bailey's ultrasound photos from Tuesday, as promised. What a cute little round head!

And for the grand finale, a 4D picture. What a pleasant surprise! See any resemblance yet?

Discoveries from maternity leave week 1

2009-08-12T10:12:00.003-05:00

Discovery #1
Cooking and eating at home supposedly saves money by avoiding restaurant food costs. Ah, but cooking costs a lot, too, when you add up:

the price of food + gas for trips to the grocery store + electricity it takes to run the stove and oven + electricity for the air conditioner to offset kitchen heat + electricity and water to clean the kitchen, wash the dishes and run the dishwasher

I think I've been loading and unloading our dishwasher every day for the past few days, and I'm not even a serious cook.

Discovery #2
Cooking can be fulfilling for a Southern woman, even if it's really simple stuff not picked from one's own garden. For example, I made my first fruit cobbler yesterday. This is about as "from scratch" as it gets around here. I've never been a big dessert-maker, so Gunter wondered what was going on. Well, for the first time in my life, I understand the importance of sweets.

I discovered that peaches can be hard to peel because they're so slippery underneath that fuzzy exterior. My favorite part of this recipe was eating peach peelings and bread crust as I went. I couldn't bear to waste some of the best parts.

Ingredients:
A buttered 8x8 baking pan
5 to 6 peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced (the ones at Walmart were HUGE, so I only used 3)
5 slices of white bread
1 1/2 cups sugar (I accidentally used 2 1/2 cups. No wonder it was so sweet!)
1 egg
1 stick of butter, melted
2 tablespoons of flour (not a common item in my house, but I had some because Gunter plans to make biscuits at some point)

Directions:
Place peaches in the buttered 8x8 baking pan. Cut crust from the bread and slice into fine fingers. Place the bread fingers over the peaches. Mix sugar, flour, egg and butter, and pour over fruit and bread. Bake 35-45 minutes until golden brown.

Discovery #3
It is possible to sleep past 7 a.m. I can't do it without waking up first and making a conscious effort to go back to sleep, but it can be done. That's all I'll say about that. I don't want to rub it in the face of all you working folks. But for months, people have been telling me to get all the rest I can because now is the last time I'll ever sleep in my entire life...ever. So I'm trying.

Discovery #4
It's difficult to reach my laptop keys, so I'm going to take a break now.

Maternity leave day 7 - a medical update

2009-08-12T10:05:00.005-05:00

I’m still here and still great with child. This is officially week 38. I’ll go back to that tracking method, since measurements are now moving beyond the normal span of pregnancy.

We’ve all been doing well. I am thankful for every single second of this pregnancy, and I realize how fortunate I am to have made it this far…but I’m about to the point of being “ready.”

I’m adjusting to this slower-paced life at home. I have been catching up on some housework and getting out, too, though it takes more out of me than it has. I’m surprised that I haven’t run out of things to do. In fact, I haven't gotten around to several items on my to-do list. And yes, I have been catching up on rest. I don’t have much of a choice in the matter. Swelling and pain overrules my wishes from time to time.

I’ve started on a pretty good novel, but I should be writing thank-you notes instead.

I saw my regular doctor yesterday (the rotations are finally over!), and I remember that I like him a lot. He noticed that my face is swelling along with my feet, but he said it’s okay because my blood pressure is good. No progress as far as labor goes. He said that even though the baby is getting big, he won’t consider inducing until, at the earliest, a week before my official due date (August 25). He wants to make sure the baby’s lungs are fully developed. I’m good with that. Still hoping labor starts on its own.

Dr. B was almost certain the baby’s head was down, but he sent me for an ultrasound to make sure. Indeed, it was. They estimate she weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces. I was glad to finally ID the body parts that most commonly poke out here or there. We got to take home some pictures, so I’ll post them as soon as we get them scanned.

So, Dr. B sent me home, told me to keep my feet up as much as I can and wants to see me next Wednesday.

Sorry if this blog has sounded more like a report, but my writing is a little rusty after a week of being away from work and not blogging.

Maternity leave day 1/2

2009-08-05T21:34:00.002-05:00

A picture is worth a thousand words, but two swollen feet are evidently worth a ticket home. Let me break it down into an equation:

Doctor’s appointment + (7.5- to 8-pound baby on the way) + caring folks at work = maternity leave before lunchtime

As of my appointment yesterday, I’m still measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule, which I guess puts me at 39 weeks and a couple days. The doctor estimated the baby could weigh 7.5 to 8 pounds by now. He said we’d rather have a big, healthy baby than one who’s not ready. I agree. I’d rather not be induced if I don’t have to be.

He thought Bailey was head-down, but he wasn’t sure. She doesn’t like to be grabbed or prodded, so she put up quite a fight when he tried to feel her out. Everything else looked good, and I’ll see my regular doctor next week if I haven’t gone into labor by then.

Doc still wasn’t concerned about my feet, but the folks at work were when I showed up this morning. I was willing to work the rest of the week if they really wanted me to, but they told me to go on home and put my feet up. No argument here. I am now officially on maternity leave, so I can ~~do housework~~ ~~goof off~~ rest until Bailey shows up.

I actually did prop them up for a couple hours this afternoon, and I was amazed at how much better they felt…until I was on them again. I guess Gunter was right – propping them on a stool underneath my desk is not the same as “up.”

Being home makes me feel a lot better about the unknown. I’m not in a big hurry for her to come now (except for that 8+ pounds thing), but I doubt it will be too much longer.

Name those feet

2009-08-04T09:30:00.012-05:00

Let's play a game! I'll give you two pictures of feet, and you pick which ones are mine and which ones belong to a certain famous pig who co-starred on one of my favorite movies of all time, Muppet Treasure Island.

Set of feet #1:

Set of feet #2:

Give up?

Set of feet #1 belongs to...

The glamorous, the fabulous, the one and only Miss Piggy.

Set of feet #2 belongs to...

Me, the human torpedo! And guess what...These pictures were taken first thing this morning! Now, if I could only get Miss Piggy's wardrobe and snazzy sense of style!

Nesting...

2009-07-30T16:08:00.005-05:00

It's here, and it's real.

Not to say that I don't hit a tired phase about 10 p.m., and not to say that my weighed-down body can hold up with the stamina of an athlete, BUT I have so much energy right now, I can barely stay in my chair. It's been like that all day.

You can't tell it yet by looking inside my humble abode, but this is serious. I took a day of leave tomorrow just to have more time to work on things around the house and run errands. I haven't taken a day off work for anything other than a planned event or a doctor's appointment in I can't remember when.

I'm not in a panic to get things ready. I would more accurately describe my feelings as "desperate," but in a more positive sense...like "determined" and willing to eradicate anything that gets in my way.

In a nice way, of course. :-) But fully prepared to resort to tougher measures if necessary.

Baby Banter #10, 11 and 12

2009-07-29T14:22:00.014-05:00

Some people can make a 9-monther feel so good! I'll take these kinds of comments any day! All these came from women at work...So now you know one reason I love my job.

Passing on my way out of the bathroom:
Girl, you don't even look pregnant from behind! Turn around. [I turn around, remembering why I never participated in beauty pageants in high school.] You're all baby!

Being followed while on my way in the employee entrance door:
You don't even look pregnant from the back! You're just as narrow as you were before.

Meeting in the hall between my cubicle and the breakroom:
You are so cute! You just look fabulous. And red looks really pretty on you.

Sometimes I wonder what people will talk to me about when I no longer look like I'm smuggling a watermelon.

And then there are the looks... I wish I had a built-in camera sometimes to capture wide eyes and open mouths. Come on, people, I didn't grow that much over the weekend!

Or did I?

People say that insomnia and getting up during the night help prepare pregnant women to get up with the baby every few hours. I think God put measures in place to get dads ready, too -- mom's restlessness for one thing. When I wake up during the night, I have to get completely out of bed (which takes a few tries), flip my pregnancy pillows and three regular pillows and crawl back inside the pile before I can go back to sleep, which usually wakes Gunter. Apparently, it's been turned up a notch because he says I have started snoring.

Now he knows how I felt when we first got married.

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow...

2009-07-25T10:34:00.003-05:00

This was supposed to be my 35-week update, but I’m really not sure what week I’m updating from. Neither are my doctors.

I went in for an appointment on Thursday thinking I was 35 weeks along, but I measured 37. I guess a lot of that baby banter I had been hearing for weeks was somewhat on track:

“You look ready!”
“There’s no way you’ll make it to August 25.”
“You look like you’ve dropped.”

I don’t doubt it. Right now, they estimate the baby weighs 6.5 pounds. If she keeps growing like she has, she’ll either be born earlier than we thought, or she’ll be big. The doctor said her growth could slow down, though, putting her closer to normal size and closer to my due date. She still appears to be head-down.

In summary, she could be born anytime between today and 5 weeks from now. Yeah.

I’m thankful that she’s progressing well, but I’d like to have a better estimate than that. It’s unreal and exciting that D-Day could be so close. I learned a valuable lesson this week – only God knows when babies will be born.

I really think my doctors are more laid-back than most. They’re not at all concerned about the constant swelling in my feet because my blood pressure is good. I’ve been wearing flipflops to work lately, calling them my maternity dress sandals. But even flipflops leave marks behind when I take them off.

They’ve set my next appointment in two weeks (they almost let it slip to three, but I protested). I think I’ll keep working at least that long and maybe go on leave if the doctor thinks I’m still progressing at this rate.

As for now, I’ve realized that I need to kick the baby preparations into high gear. We have our last shower this afternoon, and after that, I’ll go on a shopping/washing/organizing/cleaning frenzy!

By the way, Gunter painted my toenails for me this morning. Next Saturday, I'll have a spa pedicure, compliments of my "twin" and her husband. If my feet continue to swell, the spa people will have quite a bit of real estate to work on.

Don't worry...

2009-07-24T16:15:00.003-05:00

I'm still here! Yes, it's been a week since I posted, but what a busy week it's been! I'll try to update sometime this weekend. Just didn't want all three of you to worry.

Ha!

Goldilocks and the three mountains of baby clothes

2009-07-17T10:32:00.005-05:00

Last night, Gunter found a strange woman asleep on our den floor! He even got a picture to prove it. Who does she think she is, Goldilocks? If you have any information on the identity of this woman, please call our free hotline.

Wait, isn’t that the shirt I was wearing last night?

So this was the view in our den around 10 or 10:30. (I'm afraid the view in my office has been similar several times this week, only with a desk instead of the floor.) Those items at my head? A wreath for the hospital door, a shopping cart cover and a carseat pad. At my feet? Burpcloths, bibs and blankets.

We had made piles of gifts from our shower Sunday and had gotten rid of the gift bags. I sat down on the floor to gather the blanket pile, and the last thing I remember is seeing Gunter unbox the Pack-and-Play. When he woke me up, I was aching all over and the Pack-and-Play had disappeared -- moved to its place in our room where the baby will spend at least her first few weeks…or months…

Evidently (as PawPaw Dye says), I have hit a tired stage in this third trimester. Hopefully, I can justify it as tired and not just lazy. If I want things organized and ready for the baby, the nesting phase better kick in soon. Falling asleep as soon as I sit still is also quite a hindrance to thank-you note progress.

The past few days, pretty much anything other than lying on the couch has become a chore. Including getting up after a nap on the floor.

Postpartum post

2009-07-15T10:37:00.005-05:00

Postpartum class was quite helpful last night. I got a little woozy near the beginning, as I have during every class, but it wasn’t too bad. I really appreciated how detailed it was, including the ever-popular visual aids.

One such visual aid was a mini-Jacuzzi the hospital sends home with each patient. That’s not what they called it, but I like “mini-Jacuzzi” better. Thanks, Blue Cross! I told Gunter I would make it into a footbath for pedicures as soon as I can reach my feet again.

The nurse didn’t say anything about massages curing baby blues, but I think she assumed we already knew that.

I’m slightly concerned about not getting to eat when I’m in labor – me, the girl who eats every 2-3 hours. (Of all the things to dread, right?) Maybe the majority of my labor won’t happen from 5 a.m.-noon. That’s when I’m the hungriest. I think they don’t let you eat because they’re afraid you’ll get sick, but they don’t know that the opposite is true with me. Even worse, if you have a C section, you apparently don’t get to eat for days!

Gunter’s just going to have to find a drive-through on the way to the hospital. I’ll be sipping the last of my milkshake as we sign in.

34 weeks and now counting backwards

2009-07-14T12:00:00.006-05:00

I am 34 weeks now, and I guess it’s about time for another pregnancy picture. My belly looks a lot bigger than this when I’m standing up.

Here’s Bailey and me in a place where I predict we’ll be spending a lot of time soon – a rocking chair from some sweet friends in Opp in Bailey’s not-quite-finished nursery. I’ll try to show more pictures when we’ve got a few things hung on the walls and one more piece of furniture in place. Gunter is working on it like crazy, but the 5,724 layers of old paint he’s scraping off are about to get the best of him.

I redeemed a birthday gift certificate yesterday and got a pregnancy massage. I was wary of the table at first because, even with an indention for my belly, I wondered if I was putting any pressure on Bailey. When I told my mom about the table made for pregnant bellies she asked, “Did yours fit?” A valid question, since mine does stick way on out there.

After I got comfortable with the table, I really enjoyed the massage. Getting up was quite an endeavor, but when I left the spa, I didn’t even feel pregnant. I felt lighter, and nothing was strained or achy. The only trouble I had was the massage oil lingering on my hippo-like feet. No matter what I did, I couldn’t keep them from slipping in my shoes. No Walmart trip for me (pun not intended). Gunter picked up groceries on his own.

In other news, I’ve not been as active with the youth this summer. We had water day a few Saturdays ago, and I did go out there, but I had a great time in the shade playing with my “twin’s” little ones in a kiddie pool instead of slip-and-slide baseball. After it was all over, Gunter tried to pull me down the slip-and-slide on my back, but I don’t think he took into account that the extra weight would not allow him to go very fast. It wasn’t a very dignified experience.

The youth went tubing on Saturday, and we decided it would not be best for me to try that, either. I couldn’t imagine how I might get into an inner tube and still breathe, though I could easily see me falling on a stump or something. Gunter made a good point about going into labor on the river and having no cell phone service. Besides that, any time over 5 minutes in the sun would have cooked me. Mom and I went shopping instead, and then I took a nap and cleaned house. Much safer, except for the cleaning the house part.

Tonight, we’re going to a postpartum class at the hospital so Gunter will know what to do with me when I turn into an all-out basketcase. I hope to find out that shoulder rubs are key in battling baby blues.

You know you're "ripe" when...

2009-07-10T09:14:00.003-05:00

...people replace "How far along are you?" with "How much longer do you have?"

Favorite Thing #323: Sweet Tea in a Mason Jar/Southernisms

2009-07-09T09:21:00.005-05:00

This post will double as a "favorite thing" because there is nothing better than sweet iced tea in a cold mason jar with a little lemon. Nothing! Goodness gracious.

I yanked the part below from an e-mail forward, but it totally spoke to me. I was proud to identify with every one. If you don't, well bless your heart!

Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit, and that you don't "HAVE" them, you "PITCH" them.
_____

Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up "a mess."
_____

Only a Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of "yonder."
_____

Only a Southerner knows exactly how long "directly" is, as in: "Going to town, be back directly."
_____

Even Southern babies know that "Gimme some sugar" is not a request for the white, granular sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl in the middle of the table.
_____

All Southerners know exactly when "by and by" is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.
_____

Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who's got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. If the neighbor's trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin!
_____

Only Southerners grow up knowing that "just down the road" can be 1 mile or 20.
_____

Only a Southerner both knows and understands the difference between a redneck, a good ol' boy, and po' white trash.
_____

No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.
_____

A Southerner knows that "fixin" can be used as a noun, a verb or an adverb.
_____

Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines, and when we're "in line," we talk to everybody!
_____

Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage.
_____

Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.
_____

Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.
_____

When you hear someone say, "Well, I caught myself lookin'," you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner!
_____

Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it -- we do not like our tea unsweetened. "Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk.
_____

And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say, "Bless her heart" and go your own way.
_____

To those of you who are still a little embarrassed by your Southerness: Take two tent revivals and a dose of sausage gravy and call me in the morning. Bless your heart!
_____

And for those who are not from the South but have lived here for a long time, all y'all need a sign to hang on y'alls' front porch that reads "I ain't from the South, but I got here as fast as I could."

By all appearances...

2009-07-07T16:09:00.015-05:00

I’ve started thinking... I have no idea what my child will look like. Really, her appearance might come as a big surprise. My features differ from Gunter’s quite a bit. I hope Bailey is gorgeous like her daddy, but I secretly want her to look at lot like me, at least enough to recognize her as mine.

Allow me to demonstrate…

Will she inherit Gunter’s sometimes blue/sometimes green eyes, or my brown ones?

Will she have a head full of dark, curly hair from the beginning…

…or will she be bald until about the age of 4, when she finally starts to grow fine, straight hair like Mama?

Bailey might even start out blonde like Uncle Benjamin or red-headed like Great-Granny Dye.

Will that trace of Cherokee skin be passed down, or will she look more like vanilla pudding with chocolate sprinkles?

Note the arms.

Will she inherit the athleticism and competitive spirit of grandparents, aunts and uncles, or will she be more interested in books and music?

We look forward to finding out!

Baby Banter #7, 8 and 9

2009-06-30T13:46:00.005-05:00

From a woman at a local church after a Jimmy DeYoung lecture:
Are you having TRIPLETS?!

Yes. Yes, I am. Very small triplets. If you add all their sizes together, they add up to be about the size of one normal 32-week baby (at the present, about 4 pounds and 19 inches long).

Beloved pastor after the Jimmy DeYoung lecture:
She’s pregnant!

Don't even play. You knew that already!

From Jimmy DeYoung after the Jimmy DeYoung lecture:
Hey, Mama!

Suddenly, I’ve become everybody’s mama, even Jimmy DeYoung’s! Funny, we don’t resemble each other at all. I’m missing the receding fro and the great broadcast voice.

Baby Banter #6

2009-06-25T16:13:00.003-05:00

From my dear husband after I made a joke about unloading a watermelon from his vehicle (something I knew I would not be allowed to lift):

"You can't do that! You already have one!"

It might not have looked it, I'm pretty sure that watermelon was bigger than my watermelon! And it was very tasty.

Don't be a stuck in the mud

2009-06-24T13:49:00.003-05:00

“Dead Sea peril: sinkholes swallow up the unwary”

That was a headline today. Unbeknownst to Yahoo! News, that is not news to me. The Dead Sea is one big sinkhole. My time stuck there was more like 5 minutes than 14 hours, but I got stuck nonetheless. Fortunately, my brave rescuer (Gunter) was close by to drag out my salty, miry self.

Stuck is about the only thing you can get at the Dead Sea. If you’re looking to learn about Biblical history, floating or mud that burns your skin, the Dead Sea is a neat place.

If you’re looking for a gorgeous ocean and a nice spa, try Destin, Florida.

Thoughts on the drive home

2009-06-18T21:28:00.002-05:00

Don't text while driving, especially on winding country roads. That means you, huge shiny pickup truck crossing over into my lane!

You know you're from the country when a bad smell comes through your vents and you can immediately identify what kind of livestock generated said smell.

If I tilt my steering wheel as far up as it can go, maybe the airbag will hit me in the face if it were to go off instead of in the abdomen. I guess you know you're getting more mom-like when you'd prefer being hit in the face by a huge sack of air at a gazillion miles per hour.

Country roads can be so beautiful. I should stop and take a picture one of these days. I have pulled over on the side of this road before, and 2 cars stopped to check on me before 3 minutes had passed.

I'm blessed to have air conditioning, even though it doesn't seem to do much good on the way home. The car gets cool on the morning commute, but the AC is no match for the Alabama afternoon sun.

Sometimes, it takes longer to pull out at an intersection with only three cars puttering down the road than it would take in a big city.

Queen for a few more days

2009-06-18T11:50:00.001-05:00

I’ve spent the past few nights at Mama and Daddy’s house because Gunter left me.

Wait, that doesn’t sound right.

What I mean is, he left home to take the youth on a beach retreat, so I’m vacationing at the parents’ house this week. Gunter recanted after what happened a few weeks ago and told me that I could stay at home by myself if I wanted to, but I figured it would ease a few minds if I had more supervision.

What everybody forgets, though, is that I was never alone. Bailey was there the whole time. I think she knows karate.

Staying with Mom and Dad takes me back to my last few days of college and the year before Gunter and I got married. I was doing about the same thing I am this week -- driving the same route to work, talking to Gunter on the phone each night and being treated like a queen. I think my queen status might have even been upped this week because it’s only for a few days and because I’m carrying around a large ball of grandbaby.

Mom even stole the dirty clothes out of my room.

I’m pretty sure that, soon enough, Bailey will think Grandmama and Grandaddy’s house is the happiest place on Earth when she is treated like a queen here, just as I thought my grandparents’ house was better ‘n Disney World. I’ve heard from others that my queenly days at this residence are numbered according to the arrival of the next generation of spoiled-rotten grandbabies.

We'll see. Maybe they'll at least still like me here.

Baby Banter #4 and 5

2009-06-11T13:34:00.005-05:00

From a nursing student at a community college in Opp yesterday:

"You're so little! When I was pregnant with mine, my belly was twice that size!"

From the Winn Dixie deli lady today:

"August?! You look like you're about to have her."

On the contrary, according to my doctor, I'm measuring right on schedule. That's what Blue Cross pays them for, so I think I'll stick with the professional opinion.

Baby Banter #1, 2 and 3

2009-06-11T13:21:00.002-05:00

Because I get so many baby comments a day, I thought it would be fun to share some of them on the blog. Keep in mind that I am NOT offended by these comments, so I hope you won’t be either.

I’ll start the series with a top 3 of the week from a lovable cutup at church. These sound mean, but you’d just have to know him (and some of you know him well).

“How’s my favorite blimp?”

“Hey, Slim.”

“There she is, protruding navel and all.”

I think “Hey, Slim” made me laugh the most. I never know what to say back.

Lip service

2009-06-09T07:10:00.003-05:00

I don’t wear lipstick. I can’t stand most lipsticks I’ve tried, mostly for the taste and the dry paint feeling. But, since last Saturday was such a special occasion – my little brother’s wedding – I figured I’d better invest in some. I didn’t think lip gloss was up to the challenge of the gazillion pictures bridesmaids pose for on wedding days.

So Thursday after my doctor’s appointment, I scooted over to the Clinique counter at the mall. I would normally just get something at Walmart, but I needed ~~someone to pick me out a color~~ a high-quality product.

I don’t wear lipstick, so I’m not accustomed to buying it, either.

I described the dress color to the Clinique lady, and she proceeded to pull lipstick tubes from one of those sample boards. And I, not EVEN thinking, picked up the first tube and smeared it all over my lips. I then noticed her rubbing each tube on her hand to test the color. Of course, it didn’t occur to me to do that. For some reason, rubbing countless hand germs on my mouth seemed like such a better idea.

At that point, I started rubbing lipstick on the back of my hand, too, hoping she didn’t notice my goof or the sparkly new shade on my face that simply was not there before.

I ended up buying that very color – waterviolet. It looked really good on the tissue I vigorously rubbed it on immediately after walking away from the counter.

And that was just one brain lapse for the day. A couple of hours later, I arrived home to remember that I left my car in Dothan. But that’s another story.

Okay, I get it.

2009-06-08T08:35:00.003-05:00

I'm co-teaching kindergarten VBS this week (with my friend who is expecting at the end of July). Judging by the way my hips felt this morning, I'm going to have to go easy on the dancing.

28 weeks

2009-06-05T12:34:00.002-05:00

Dear Bailey,

We had a checkup yesterday, and you (or, I) measured at 28 weeks, right on schedule. Your heartbeat was not hard to find, and it sounded strong. The doctor said all that grunting and time it takes for me to get out of bed is normal.

I can feel and see you rolling around in there now. You do a lot more pushing than you do kicking these days. That’s not new to you, but it’s new to me. You’re most active during the day, and you tend to settle down at night, just like your mama.

Because your daddy and I are in two different cities during the day, he hasn’t felt you when you’re really active, but you amazed him the other night. When he would push against my stomach a little, you would tap back.

Apparently, you’re long enough to stretch from one side to the other. I think you just discovered this yesterday afternoon, because I could feel you bumping both sides at once. You seemed to be enjoying it, and you bounced that way for about 20 minutes.

One morning last week, I woke up with the hiccups – probably the first time that’s ever happened. I was surprised to feel you hiccuping between each of my hiccups. Did I sip that water too fast? Did the alarm clock scare us that bad?

It seems as though you’re taking after your daddy in at least two areas – you tend to get excited when you hear music, and you love sweets. The sugar addiction has just hit me within the last week or so, and I’m thinking it must have something to do with you. Why else would I order a chocolate milkshake instead of a fruit slush? Why would I think that leftover Walmart doughnut was the best snack ever? Why would I gaze longingly at the M&Ms when I go to grab some trail mix? It’s not like me at all. I hope we get over it soon.

Keep growing. I’ll try to slip you some vegetables this afternoon. Love you already.

Life as a delinquent

2009-06-05T10:56:00.007-05:00

I got this in my e-mail today. Can you believe that Facebook called me out like that?

They even included a link to the login page, in case I had forgotten.

Sorry, Facebook! I really do appreciate your constantly letting me know what other people in the world are doing, as well as letting them in on my life, but I've just had more pressing things to do lately than peruse you. Sorry, online buddies! My not logging on to Facebook does not mean you are not important to me.

It reminded me of the time during my senior year of college when a journalism professor called my cell phone to tell me that my classmates were wondering if I was coming back to class. He didn't have an attendance policy, and I was completing all my assignments by deadline. I just thought my time would be better spent getting something beneficial done that day (such as driving to a nearby city to cover a story for The Alabama Baptist newspaper) than having the online notes read to me.

By the way, let this be no bad reflection on Troy (State, at the time) University. This was the only journalism class I didn't enjoy.

Anyway, the call was my professor's nice way of saying, "Technically, you don't have to be here, but it would be nice if you would grace us with your presence every once in a while."

Sometimes, you just gotta pick and choose. That day, $100 in my pocket ranked above an hour of note-reading, no matter how well known was the weatherman reading them.

But the next class day, I showed up with just a hint of chagrin.

I'll clean up my mess soon, Facebook. You've shamed me into it.

Home alone

2009-06-03T10:29:00.003-05:00

I passed a major milestone last weekend. At 25 years of age, I stayed home alone overnight for the first time.

That may come as a surprise to many of you brave, independent types, but I’ve never really had much of an occasion to stay by myself. I lived with Mom and Dad until I left for college, where I inhabited a dorm for all 4 years, surrounded by people. Then, I moved home for almost a year until Gunter and I got married. Since then, he’s probably only been gone overnight a couple of times, and I took advantage of those occasions by staying with my parents or my Aunt Pam and Dear Grandmother. To my credit, however, I have stayed in a hotel alone…but just like the dorm, I was still pretty much surrounded by people up and down the hallway.

So last weekend as Gunter left to be in a friend’s wedding in Orlando, I decided that I was grown and that I really just wanted to stay in my own house. Nobody protested…much.

The first night was great. I slept like a log. I expected that I would get scared at some point, but I never did. What I DID get was lazy. I surprised me. I thought that if I had the house to myself, I would get so much done, but it was quite the opposite. Suddenly, with nobody around, all I wanted to do was lie on the couch and eat junk – which I did for quite a while.

The second night alone was a bit more eventful. I spent early evening “helping decorate” for my brother’s wedding shower. Afterwards, the Bailey bunch went to eat at my beloved Chicken Shack, where we ended up staying for about 2 hours due to lack of waitresses. I got home a little later than I’d planned, but no big deal. I’m grown, right? So grown that my dad waited around after an event at the church so he could walk me in and check my house for intruders before I locked up for the night.

I had already talked with Gunter on the phone, so I nonchalantly crawled into bed about 11 and started to doze. That is, until the search party arrived at my door.

“Did I actually hear knocking, or was I just dreaming? There it is again. Should I go to the door? Maybe I should take a weapon. I hear knocking AND my name. It must be safe.”

Scooted out of the bed (no easy task these days), threw on a robe and opened the door to find my daddy standing there. My first thought – “Who’s dead?” Mom peeked out from behind him. “Gunter…” he said, and my heart stopped for a split second before he finished, “has been trying to get up with you for 3 hours.” (Even though it was more like 2.) They had called, too, and I had not received a single ring or a message on the ol’ trusty cell phone.

Gunter was a tad upset but glad to hear that I was, in fact, okay. Apparently, I had missed one important tidbit of information from our earlier conversation – that he would call me back after the wedding was over, or that I would call him. Nope, I didn’t catch that at all.

Next came the declaration that I would never stay by myself again…ever. Ever.

Didn’t sleep quite as good that night as I did the night before. But I did stay the rest of the night by myself, with Daddy’s (fully functioning) phone on my nightstand.

By the way, if you’ve tried to call me in the past few days and wonder why I haven’t called back, it’s probably because I never got your message. Perhaps your call never even came through. Took the phone by Alltel yesterday, and apparently, it’s been dropped one too many times. The rep could tell by looking inside the back. Beware of ~~clumsiness~~ rough phone treatment – it could have serious consequences.

I failed to mention...

2009-05-29T16:11:00.002-05:00

...that we're thinking the middle name will be Lynn. Lynn is my middle name and my dad's, so we kind of wanted to carry it on.

You have to be careful when choosing a middle name for a child whose last name ends in a vowel. We were thinking about a middle name that begins with an "R" at some point, but that would not have made a good monogram, no matter what order you put the middle and last initials.

Hold the lettuce

2009-05-29T12:04:00.002-05:00

At long last, Baby Akridge is “Salad” no more. Her mama and daddy have settled on a name, and that name is…drumroll please…Bailey.

“Bailey” has been on the list pretty much from the beginning. It’s my mom’s maiden name -- and, strangely enough, Gunter’s Granny Akridge also had a grandmother with the last name Bailey (but maybe that doesn't make the gene pool too shallow).

“Bailey” really grew on us because it’s simple yet pretty, not too hard to spell or pronounce, and, possibly most important, the thicker your Southern drawl, the better it sounds. Go ahead and try it. You'll see.

So there you have it. Our girl has a name. As of last weekend, she also has a painted room, a dresser and a crib, thanks to her daddy. I’ll have to get some before and after shots to show you soon.

Favorite Thing #597: Blistex

2009-05-27T12:31:00.000-05:00

I've been addicted to this stuff since I got braces in the 7th grade. My lips won't settle for just ANY chapstick -- it must be Medicated Blistex. I started out with the pink and teal kinds, and I have just discovered the mint variety in the last couple of years.

Perhaps this explains my disdain for lipstick.

At least, Blistex is one of my favorite things until I leave it in the car on an Alabama summer day and find it melted later.

I'm still using this tube, anyway. It simply can't go to waste!

A Daughter's Worth -- worth a look

2009-05-26T12:11:00.006-05:00

If you're looking for a good book to use for girls' Bible study or Sunday school, I have a recommendation -- "A Daughter's Worth" by Ava Sturgeon.

I wasn't so sure about it at first because I was afraid the whole study would be on the same subject -- that we're valuable to God. That's not a bad subject, but 12 weeks of it could get more than a little redundant. When I saw the table of contents, I was pleasantly surprised, but not as much as when I began to go through the study on my own.

I found that, though the lessons were short, simple and easy to understand, they were still thought-provoking and challenging. This study could work for groups of girls who had known the Bible/been believers for a long time or for brand new Christians/younger girls. Or, in our case, 7th-12th grade girls, a mother of four teacher in her 20s and one 20-something sit-in (me).

The only thing I thought was lacking in "A Daughter's Worth" were suggestions for group activities or illustrations to make the lesson more interactive and interesting. However, I guess the book makes up for it in that it's really geared toward discussion.

We're on our last week in the book, so now we're looking for other ideas for Sunday school. If you have any resources or ideas, please feel free to share!

I think I can, I think I can...

2009-05-22T12:11:00.001-05:00

I thought for a second this morning that I was developing a new hobby. A local produce stand delivers vegetables to the place I work, and I went out to buy some cucumbers and strawberries. (There is nothing like a fresh cucumber in the summer – nothing!) They were $1 per pound or $10 per box. I was only after a few, unless of course I wanted 75 percent of the box to go bad before we could eat them.

One of my co-workers suggested I buy a whole box and can them. What a novel idea! I love homemade preserves, jellies, pickles and salsa. And my family has frozen homegrown vegetables for years.

When I got back to my desk, I Googled “how to can pickles” or something like that, and I quickly realized there’s a lot more involved than I thought. Maybe it’s a good idea that I don’t buy a whole box of cucumbers just yet. Maybe I could pick up canning when we are able to devote some time to having a garden again.

Do any of you can your own whatever? Do you have one of the canning pots, etc.? Does it end up being more expensive to can your own than to buy it from a shelf?

Catching up...

2009-05-21T11:35:00.005-05:00

My first Mother’s Day was wonderful.

I didn’t think I should be celebrated on Mother’s Day because I haven’t been through any of the hard stuff yet – giving birth, actually raising a child, etc. I have it so easy now. All I do is go about my business and carry the baby around. I have given up a few favorites temporarily, like sweet tea and Diet Coke, but that’s no big deal.

I spent Mother’s Day first with Gunter’s mom and grandmother at church, and then I spent the afternoon with my mom and Dear Grandmother…along with the rest of the Bailey side of the family. My surprise that morning was a card from the baby and a book from the daddy – “Baby Boot Camp.” Yes! Just what I need!

Last Saturday, I had my first baby shower in Prattville! I was so excited, you would have thought I had won a trip to the Bahamas. I got some great stuff to get us ready for Baby. The women on Gunter’s Galimore side of the family threw the shower and invited my college roommates and some other friends who live in the Montgomery/Prattville area. Wow, so many important days of my life have been spent in a town that I never really called “home,” but is home to people I love.

I’ve been asked if we’re still attending childbirth classes, and the answer is yes. I went to one last week that I didn’t blog about because, though it’s a natural thing, I don’t consider it G-rated, or at least it’s TMI. I told Gunter not to feel obligated to go to that one because he won't be able to contribute much anyway.

This week’s class, Baby Saver, was probably the most important and the least enjoyable, just because the subject matter made me nervous. Imagine that! (This was the first, however, during which they haven’t shown a birth video.) We talked about proper carseat installation, tips for making your home safe, safe eating, poison control and what to do when (not if) your baby chokes. We had a baby practice dummy and everything. Who knew that Werther’s Originals were the devil?

If nothing else, the class improved my prayer life on the way home.

In other news, I’m at 26 weeks, and apparently, I have entered the waddling phase. The ol’ belly is putting extra weight on my lower back and hips, which is I guess why I have a new strutting style, along with some achiness and loose joints. I have definitely grown in the past couple of weeks, and though the belly button has not quite popped out yet, it unnerves Gunter. He won’t touch it, and he freaks out when I touch it. I think men must have more sensitive belly buttons than women.

The baby is moving more often these days, and I’ve been able to see bumping around from the outside.

In the midst of utter swamped-ness, Gunter is making progress on the baby’s room. He’s actually in Dothan today picking up the crib and dresser. I can’t wait to see it put together, but I must remember, one step at a time.

Favorite Thing #622: Low Country Boil

2009-05-20T13:25:00.004-05:00

...and a house/yard full of folks. Neither Gunter nor I have a bit of Cajun ancestry (that I know of), but he sure can throw down some Low Country Boil, and I sure can eat it!

I mean, it's perfect! Everything goes in one pot, it's cooked outside, it's casual, and you just grab and eat. We've found that punch bowl cake (or other refrigerated desserts) goes well with the warm spiciness of Low Country Boil. All you need are some Christmas lights strung across the yard and some peppy music.

We had the youth seniors over Monday night for some of this stuff, and I think everybody had a good time. We say we're doing it for them, but it's really just an excuse to have this for supper.

Healthy as a horse

2009-05-15T09:39:00.004-05:00

That's what the oncologist said about Gunter yesterday. Obviously, he was referring to one of those strong, prize-winning racehorses.

Gunter's scans were completely clear, and his bloodwork looked good, too. We got to see some of our friends at the Cancer Center, including the lab nurses who think Gunter is the funniest, most precious thing. They liked his goatee.

He'll have another routine CT scan either in August or September, depending on the baby's progress and depending on whether I'll let him get an hour and a half away from home so close to my due date.

Thank you for your prayers! We're so glad the news was good.

3-month checkup

2009-05-13T11:59:00.001-05:00

I haven’t been able to do any blogging this week (writing or reading) because things have been a little hectic -- not for any bad reasons, just busy. But I wanted to ask you to say a prayer for Gunter. He had a CT scan yesterday, and we’ll see the oncologist for his 3-month checkup tomorrow afternoon. Pray that the scans will be clear and accurate, and that there won’t be a trace of cancer!

We sure do appreciate it!

Sweet relief

2009-05-08T14:41:00.002-05:00

Good news – I passed my test de sugar yesterday! It wasn’t as bad as everybody says it is. Chugging the sugar drink as fast as possible makes it easier to get down, and I was a big girl and didn’t cry when they pricked 4 of my fingers. I sat in the waiting room for about 3.5 hours, but I did get to read.

Gunter and I celebrated passing the test with a Wendy’s Frosty. After running errands, we got on some housework yesterday afternoon. Gunter hung (hanged, Mrs. Grammar Nazi?) curtains, lowered the water heater temperature, folded clothes and cleaned the kitchen. I got rid of the wall o’ clothes piled in our bedroom (the ones I can’t wear either because it’s too hot, I’m too with-child, or both), cooked spaghetti and washed clothes. Then, he made me sit down because my back hurt a little. I’m used to sitting at a desk all day…not so much moving.

Speaking of moving, if you’re looking to inherit any of our ~~junk~~ prized possessions, now is a good time to stop by the Christian mission, while Gunter is progressing on clearing out the baby’s room. Or, just make it easy on us – stop by the house and take whatever you want. Save us a trip and the decision of whether to keep stuff or not.

Yep, getting rid of stuff so we can get much more important stuff. I’ve been working on our registries a little along. See what you think. Suggestions? I doubt most of this stuff is necessary to raise a baby, but I wanted people to have a lot to choose from. Of course, I haven't put diapers or clothes on there because I figured people would just know I needed that sort of stuff.

Babies R Us

Target

Walmart

By the way, have you noticed that Walmart has deleted the hyphen from the company name? It used to be Wal-Mart. My boss, a self-proclaimed word nerd, pointed that out.

Cleansing breaths

2009-05-06T13:13:00.003-05:00

Last night, Gunter and I attended our second childbirth class, "Breathing and Relaxation Techniques." Because you know, relaxation is important when you’re in the LEAST relaxing situation of your life, and breathing is important…well, all the time.

I didn’t figure this class would impart information as important as some of the others (e.g., "Baby Saver"), but we went anyway because the more I know, the better.

In this case, however, I'm thinking what I don’t know won’t hurt me.

I say that because this particular class seemed designed more for those brave women choosing natural child BIRTH (imagine me saying it just like Bill Cosby), which according to Cosby himself, is a lot like pulling your bottom lip over your head. We even watched a video of natural child BIRTH, and it was delightful, let me tell you.

The point that I became really convinced that UN-natural child BIRTH was the way to go was when the nurse told us that nausea and v***ting (I can’t bring myself to post the v-word on my blog) were common during labor – 8 out of 10! In light of my phobia, I decided that if I stood a better chance avoiding that with drugs, then bring on the drugs! Maybe I can sleep through that part. Judging by the natural child BIRTH video, however, Gunter’s chances of nausea and v***ting are pretty high. Good thing we saved a couple of those fast-working chemo tablets…

We learned how to breathe and hopefully distract attention away from contractions, etc. (By the way, does anybody really do the breathing like they say, or is that just on TV?) Also helpful was instruction on the best way to sit to keep your feet from falling asleep and details on the stages of labor (got a little woozy again, but not as bad as last time).

All in all, I’m glad we went. If I get just one relaxation shoulder massage during labor, it will have been worth it.

When life hands you lemons

2009-05-05T13:08:00.008-05:00

In my opinion, when life hands you lemons, squeeze them into a cold glass of sweet tea. Leave the lemonade-making to Country Time or Koolaid.

"Life" didn't hand me lemons, but Heather from "Now I Am a Grownup" did hand me a lemonade stand. How sweet (pun intended). Thank you, Heather, especially now that I've noticed that this lemonade stand comes complete with hotdogs!

So now I'm passing the award along to someone who shows a great attitude not only on her blog but also in real life, April at "The Reeds."

April stays away from the c-word on this particular blog, so I don't want to share too much of her business, but she made a statement to me at the very beginning of Gunter's chemo that changed my perspective forever about cancer and whatever other obstacle someone happens to be facing. She said, though maybe not verbatim, "Don't let cancer get in the way of your life." Treat it and deal with it, but don't let it steal your joy or suck the life out of you.

Brings to mind two verses:

"Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth." Colossians 3:2

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." Philippians 4:8

Seems to me that April, her husband and happy new baby boy do a great job at living life to the fullest. She's a walking, talking, laughing lemonade stand.

What a day!

2009-05-01T12:17:00.007-05:00

I'm trying to remember another time when somebody's told me I was too sweet and had the numbers to prove it. Nope, nothing is coming to mind.

But according to advanced medical technology, I am sweeter than the average expecting mom. At least, that's what I derived when I failed my glucose test yesterday. Maybe "failed" is too harsh of a word. The cutoff is 140 (whatever that means), and my number was 140. Could it have been the bowl(s) of cereal I ate around 11 or 11:30 the night before? The doctor said no, but the nurse advised me not to eat anything after 8 p.m. the next time. The rules need to be more specific. They said nothing after midnight, so I thought 11:30 would be fine!

I was quite shocked, considering I've had problems with low blood sugar in the past.

So I go back next week for the 3-hour test. If I fail it, we might still be able to regulate my blood sugar with diet instead of insulin. I had never noticed before yesterday, but being diabetic makes eating out really hard! Bread, pasta and potatoes are everywhere! And what about fruit, with all those natural sugars? I'm not sure what my diet would consist of if I could have no bread or fruit.

In good news, the doctor said my ~~hippopotamus feet~~ slight swelling was normal.

The afternoon was a little more successful. We finally picked out a crib! Munire was one brand we had heard/read great things about, but I had sort of written it off as being way more expensive than others under consideration. But yesterday, they had this set on sale at Our New Baby, and it turned out to be cheaper than some of the others.

We got the crib and the combo dresser (not the hutch on top), a mattress and the conversion kit. Hopefully, this furniture will last until she leaves for college -- with more scholarship money than she knows what to do with, of course. I have a feeling we're going to need more pieces for storage, but we'll just solve that problem by not letting her have a lot of clothes. Ha.

Since I wasn't getting back to work in time to do anything productive at this point, we drove north a ways to visit our friends Adam and Anna and their new baby. I actually held him without much fuss, and he was only a little bit miserable. I was afraid I was emitting so much heat that I was burning him through his blankets. There's just something about a hospital room that raises my temperature to little above comfortable.

Oh, well. Better get used to it, huh?

Favorite Thing #547: Cheap Entertainment

2009-04-28T15:38:00.005-05:00

Is it not obvious why I married him? This post also features Gunter's Favorite Thing #3: The Ping-Pong Champ Shirt.

Temporary fix

2009-04-24T16:10:00.003-05:00

Okay, this will have to do for now. Since I named the blog "My Life in Black and White" I feel as though I must keep it at least somewhat...well, black and white. So I'm a bit limited on my backgrounds, but I'll figure something out.

Blog background question

2009-04-23T14:52:00.002-05:00

Can anyone see my black and white blog background? All I see on my computer is white. Not sure why.

A mile of stones

2009-04-23T13:41:00.010-05:00

It’s been a week of milestones for the Akridges. (Well, if you count 3 as a “week of milestones.”)

Dear Grandmother celebrated her 78th birthday on Sunday, just cause for a Bailey family shindig at my uncle’s “barn.” Some of the highlights included Grammama’s older sister getting to come, a DVD of family pictures, my first time playing Rock Band and, of course, good food.

Here's Grammama and her sweet sister, Christine.
Aren't they cute?!

Gunter makes fun of me for standing with my hands clasped.
Notice where I get it from.

My brother/nurse-on-call likes to check my growth progress.

Here's the whole family: (left to right) Benjamin and his girlfriend Amber, Gunter, me, Cousin Nicki, Aunt Pam, Cousin Courtney, Dear Grandmother, Courtney's boyfriend Danny, uncle's wife Lucy, Uncle Charles (pronounced Chahls), Mama and Daddy.

On Monday, we paid off our student loan. Goodbye and good riddance, Sallie Mae! That might not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but it felt so good to no longer have that hanging over our heads! We’d really been looking forward to that very last payment in our rearview mirror. Dave Ramsey would be so proud! …At least of that part of our finances...

Last but not least, yesterday was our 3rd wedding anniversary. It seems like we’ve been married for a lot longer than 3 years, but not in a bad way. If I could go back in time, I’d give my life away to this man over and over again without hesitation. I told him that, too. I knew he was an extraordinary and admirable man when I married him, but the longer we’re together, the better he gets.

As for the rest of the week, we’re working on finishing an Israel paper, getting the house in some semblance of order, making a short beach trip, catching up on my Baby Bargains book and getting together for my brother’s birthday on Saturday. Oh, and cleaning the remnants of the Outback out of the back of Gunter’s vehicle.

Kreativ? Who, me?

2009-04-20T16:00:00.003-05:00

Well, whaddya know -- a blog award! Just when I thought I was totally boring everyone with the baby posts, I am deemed "Kreativ." And from such a sweet, funny girl as April Reed! Thanks, April.

So, here are the rules...

1. When given the award, you list 7 things that you love.
2. Pass the award on to 7 bloggers you love and be sure to tag them and let them know they've won.

7 things I love:

1. Family gatherings. One day this week, I hope to post some pictures from my Dear Grandmother's surprise birthday cookout yesterday. Daddy and Aunt Pam are the family photographers, so I have to get pictures from one of them before I have any to post.

2. Weekends (or weekdays) at the beach. A third anniversary trip to the beach could be in the works for this weekend, but no time to think much about that until the VBS clinic is over and the Israel paper is turned in!

3. Checking items off my list. Just a simple "delete" on my calendar gives me more of a sense of accomplishment than it probably should. I checked a big, BIG one off this morning. Maybe more on that tomorrow.

4. People who truly love me. These are the people who don't just say it but the ones who give of themselves to show love, even if we haven't spoken in quite a while. I got a phone call from a friend in Opp last night offering an act of kindness that still has a smile on my face this morning.

5. Nestle Instant Breakfast. Why do I have a feeling that I've blogged about this before? I look forward to drinking this on the way to work almost every morning. I just wish I could manage to drink it more slowly so I could enjoy it for longer than 5 minutes. Vanilla is my new favorite flavor.

6. Working together on ministry projects. I don't always think of church work days and such as fun activities...until I get there and get started. Anything to do with manual work is not my wimpy self's cup of tea, but I love time spent getting to talk and relationships made over dusty stacks of yellowed choir music or bottles of Windex.

7. Going home time. Gotta grab one last snack before I hit the road.

I hereby bestow the Kreativ Blogger award to the following worthy individuals who have probably already received many such rewards:

1. Jen @ Hey, y'all!
2. Heather @ Now I Am a Grownup
3. Christi @ Two Peas in Our Pod
4. Tony @ Tony Dye's Point of View
5. Melissa @ My Blue Morning
6. Melissa @ My Life as it Happens
7. Penny @ Daily Dose of Dribbles

To visit these blogs, please see my blog list on the right.

Nance's Pasta Salad

2009-04-17T12:20:00.004-05:00

Of all the (many) dishes I could devour all in one sitting, this one would probably be in the top 10. Once again, it's a recipe courtesy of my friend Catherine and her mother, Nancy.

For another outstanding Cat and Nance recipe, click here.

I'll be fixing a big bowl of it this weekend (and will probably eat most of it myself if anyone else dares hesitate to get a helping).

Nance’s pasta salad
1. Boil colorful pasta noodles (I use rainbow rotini). Be sure to salt water well. Drain pasta.
2. Stir in Italian salad dressing, enough to coat noodles.
3. Add ½ cup sour cream, ½ cup mayo and 1 packet dry ranch seasoning. Mix well (and add more Italian dressing, if needed, to mix).
4. The rest is up to you. Some good ingredients to add are sliced black or green olives, pimentos, cheese cubes, ham pieces and cherry tomatoes.
5. Refrigerate until chilled.

One great thing about this recipe is that it doesn't take very long and it's very simple -- a good thing for me, since I will be making it on the same weekend that I am attempting to recreate the Australian Outback. As is illustrated throughout the Bible, God never seems to call the equipped...

New life and more new life

2009-04-15T13:20:00.004-05:00

My favorite holiday has come and gone. Don’t get me wrong – Christmas is probably the most fun, but there’s something about that whole victory-over-sin-and-death thing that gets me every Easter.

Here we are at church, I believe the first Easter we’ve even remotely matched. Because this is the South, Easter dresses still tend to be a big deal for some people, but I don’t have to have an Easter dress every year. Usually, I just wear something springy. This year was a little more difficult as I only have a couple of dresses that fit, and maternity dresses that look decent are not easy to find. Mama bought me this dress before I started showing, and I have concluded that when you’re pregnant, dressing like a big Minnie Mouse might not be the best idea.

We spent a beautiful afternoon on Gunter’s mom’s back porch, a.k.a. what should be the location of the next Southern Living photo shoot. Family gatherings like that do me good because I know we’re going to be there a while, and I have nothing to do while I’m there but sit and enjoy people.

Of course, growing up at Bailey family gatherings, it’s ingrained in my belief system that holidays = you can eat as much food as you want, as long as you’re relaxing on the back porch. So I blame my pleasurable and carefree upbringing for the sugar overload that made me feel bad Sunday night. When you’ve been drinking almost nothing but water and doing your best to eat on the healthy side of the fence, your body has trouble handling such extravagance.

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In more recent news, Gunter and I went to our first childbirth class last night. It wasn’t as fun as I had imagined, but it was good for me. I wonder if I was the only one who got woozy when the subject turned to bursting of membranes. I know I was the only one the teacher/nurse laughed at because I partially covered my eyes during the epidural video. I am such a medical wimp. And I don’t get much sympathy from my chemo-veteran husband.

The baby kicked a lot during the class, as if to say, “NO! Don’t let them do it!”

All I can say is, most of those girls in the class are a lot closer to all that than I am. I actually wore a shirt that made me look more pregnant, since I’m starting these classes so early. From the looks of things, some of the others probably should have started sooner.

I enjoyed seeing the labor and delivery rooms, postpartum rooms and the nursery. In fact, I’ve never seen hospital rooms that nice. They look more like big rooms in somebody’s well-decorated house (not mine).

Well, lunch is over, so I'm back to work. Happy Wednesday (that feels like Friday but it's not)!

Thoughts from Beth Moore

2009-04-10T10:18:00.002-05:00

Today, Beth Moore writes about trading the hem for the real Him -- temporary healing vs. the complete healing we'll receive in Heaven. It's long, but if you quit halfway, you'll miss the best part.

Cancer paints an ugly, brutal picture of the effects sin has on humanity. And yet, no matter how bad the situation, those who belong to Him still have hope and still glorify Him with their lives, cancer or no cancer! Nothing exists with the power to escape God's victory.

Beth Moore's "Thinking about Death and Healing"

Baby gear Q&A week: Question #3

2009-04-09T12:39:00.008-05:00

First, an update on the questions I've asked so far...

Nursery furniture became a topic of discussion around supper tables at church last night, and apparently, Our New Baby is THE place to buy baby furniture around here. I've also gotten an e-mail recommending Our New Baby since my first baby gear post.

So now I'm interested. I wonder if smaller stores like that might be willing to negotiate on prices. After I got a little bit of practice at the Jewish market in Jerusalem, I'm itching to put my haggling skillz to use and shop for baby stuff Dave Ramsey style! Unfortunately, I doubt I'd get very far with big stores like Wal-Mart... "I'll give you $4.50 for this pack of diapers... Okay, this $5 is all I have to spend. Take it or leave it."

*This is actually the Arab market, not the Jewish market. I was too busy looking for deals to take a picture of the Jewish market.

Though some moms I've talked with love convertible furniture (crib that converts to toddler bed that converts to full size), others don't recommend it. One mom said her daughter chewed up her bed "like a beaver" before she turned two, and now she's stuck with said chewed up bed at least until she goes to college. Another said she got the changing table that flips over to become a dresser, but because the drawers go both ways, they don't roll very easily. Another mom bought a convertible set for both children and likes it, but at birth, her son was already too big for the changing table.

So we'll see. We probably won't do any serious baby shopping for the next couple of weeks, but some browsing might be in order.

On to today's question topic -- bedding!

If all they say about SIDS is true (that all you're supposed to have in the crib is a fitted sheet -- no stuffed animals, bumper pads or blankets), why do they sell all these fancy bedding sets? Doesn't make much sense to me. Do I need a bedding set or just some fitted sheets and curtains?

Blog design

2009-04-08T12:19:00.002-05:00

I couldn't help but mention that I'm tired of the way my blog looks, so expect a refresh sometime soon. I wish I knew enough about HTML to design my own template and apply it, but I can't quite get it right between those two steps. Regardless, I'm hoping for a semi-makeover in the next week or so...or so. Stay tuned.

Baby gear Q&A week: Question #2

2009-04-08T11:23:00.004-05:00

Thank you all for the great comments on my previous post! Let me just say that I love April’s suggestion, and I’ll be looking for a copy of “Baby Bargains” this weekend. Until then, just for fun, I’d like to continue our week of baby gear Q&A.

If you haven’t had a baby recently, you’re probably wondering, “What’s with the space ship?” If you have, you probably already hold an opinion about this little contraption of controversy, the Diaper Genie.

Is it a disposal disappointment or essential equipment? How would you rank the smell factor?

Talk about having a baby changing your life! I can't believe I'm blogging about dirty diapers or their smell.

A friend at work just got one of these, a Diaper Champ, and she swears by it. Supposedly, you can use regular garbage bags, and even her 5-year-old can operate it.

And then I have a friend who is a fan of neither. Diaper disposal around his house was simple – tie them up in Wal-Mart sacks, toss them in the kitchen garbage can and take out the trash every day.

What do you think? Do any of these pail in comparison to others?

Comments for a good cause

2009-04-06T16:25:00.000-05:00

Wow. I could NOT look at this thing every day. It’s even heart-shaped. Ahem.

Though it still might be a little early to begin registering or buying stuff, I’m one who likes to research, browse and mull over my options before making any kind of purchasing decisions. (This could be one reason why my best shopping buddy is my mom – perhaps the only one with enough patience and endurance!)

So, here’s the start to a whole series of baby gear questions. I have so many, I’ll break each topic into a separate blog post on a separate day. You won’t have a hard time believing that I am a first-timer through and through.

Hopefully, I’ll get some good volunteered information that will help someone else reading the blog, as well, instead of the less desired effect – causing those of you already tired of hearing about baby stuff from avoiding this site like the plague.

My first inquiries have to do with nursery furniture. The more browsing online I do, the more confused I become. Just take cribs for example. You’d think buying a baby bed would be a fairly simple task. You just pick out which color you want, right? Wrong! Oh so wrong.

Do I need a standard crib, a convertible crib or a mini-crib, whatever that is? What are some good things to look for/bad things to avoid in a crib?

I’m pretty sure I know what a bassinet is used for, but what’s up with cradles? Are they just cribs you can move from room to room?

I figure a changing table and a chest/dresser are both must-haves. Any advice on those?

Because I’m tight with moo-lah, my first inclination is to go for the least expensive, but maybe I’m wrong. Any recommendations on where to get furniture? Wal-Mart, Target, Babies R Us?

Comment away! And if nursery furniture is not exactly your area of expertise, don’t worry. We have several categories left to go.

Your efforts will not be in vain. Remember, you are commenting for a cause! My sweet baby will thank you on behalf of her clueless mom.

IT'S A GIRL!!!

2009-04-03T08:56:00.009-05:00

A very active girl, according to the ultrasound tech, who had trouble getting her to be still enough to measure. (Since my ultrasound was around 8:30 a.m., I hope it’s a sign that she’s an early-to-bed morning person like her Mama.) She weighs 10 ounces and is about 6 inches long from head to bottom – right in line with my August 25 due date.

We saw all her little bones and organs and got to watch her move for a while. She put her hands in her face, she shifted and bounced and stretched…It’s still hard to make the connection that what I saw on the monitor was actually going on inside me. I haven’t been able to feel much until this point, but now that I know where her feet and hands are, it seems like I’m realizing that a lot of what I was feeling was not digestion or blood circulation but was actually tiny aerobics, especially those little feet right behind my belly button.

Needless to say, we are quite excited about having a daughter, though we would have been just as happy to have a son. I’ve always wanted a daughter so we could hopefully be as close as my mom and I are.

To answer your next question, she has no name just yet, but we’ve been tossing around a few. I’m not sold on any of them, so don’t be surprised if it’s still quite a while before we settle on one for sure. That many possibilities are not good for my indecisive self.

We were especially happy that everything still looked okay. Isn't it amazing how God takes a single cell (remarkable in itself) and causes it to grow, not just into a bigger bunch of cells but into a complex being with specialized organs, a spine, fingers and toes, and a personality...miraculous! You've come a long way from the blob you were, Baby!

Exile is only temporary

2009-04-01T15:29:00.004-05:00

I have a friend who is going through a pretty rough time right now, but she’s getting closer to the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Though the situations differ greatly, thinking about her brought to mind a time in my life just a little over a year ago when I thought the light at the end of my tunnel was too far out of reach.

That night, after Gunter had been stomped down by chemotherapy for months, and with several more treatments to go, I hit my emotional rock bottom. As he slept fitfully, I sat on our den floor and squalled. I felt so desperate, so sick of it all and terrified at the thought that it might not end with these 12 treatments. The frustration led to stress on our relationship and some communication gaps that I was having trouble dealing with.

I grabbed my Bible and turned to one of Gunter’s favorite verses, Jeremiah 29:11. I had heard the verse quoted many times, but I had never realized the situation it spoke to nor the verses surrounding it. Here is what I read that night:

“For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you, and bring you back to this place.

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’” Jeremiah 29:10-14

I know it was a promise to God’s chosen people regarding the Babylonian captivity, but that night, it might as well have had my name on it. I knew that exile wouldn’t last forever and that we would be restored.

Life has more hard times in store, I’m sure, but they won’t last forever. That’s what kind of a God we have – One who wants to give us a future and a hope, no matter what our particular “exile” is. We might not all get back to the Promised Land at the same time (Daniel spent the rest of his days in Babylon), but His people all have future and a hope nonetheless.

Movin' on up

2009-03-31T13:16:00.003-05:00

Just a quick note... Pretending that you care what time my ultrasound appointment is on Thursday, I wanted to let you know that it has been moved up to 8:15 a.m. from 3 p.m. I'm starting to think Dr. Butler doesn't like staying in the office all day if he could get done with his appointments earlier. I'm going to have to scold him about that.

I'll have to miss a few more hours of work, but at least we'll get to go sooner! I certainly won't complain about that. I'm glad they didn't have to move my appointment to a later date!

Have a great Tuesday!

Week 19

2009-03-30T12:51:00.005-05:00

It’s about time I broke down and posted a belly photo. Until about 3 weeks ago, I didn’t have much to speak of but all of a sudden, hello!

This is way TMI, but as of yesterday, I even noticed that my belly button looks different. For some strange reason, the thought of my belly button flattening out is a little bit scary to me. Maybe I’m afraid that it won’t stretch like the rest of my skin or that it will come untied?

I’ll be 19 weeks tomorrow, and babycenter.com tells me the baby is about the size of an heirloom tomato (6 inches head to bottom and 8.5 ounces). Is it just me, or does 6 inches seem a little large for a tomato?
Our second ultrasound is scheduled for this Thursday, April 2. I’m glad it didn’t fall on April Fool’s Day! So hopefully, if a certain small someone cooperates, we’ll know whether Salad is a he or a she on Thursday!

Cheeseburger in paradise, with a cold lemonberry slush

2009-03-27T15:03:00.009-05:00

Have you ever said the blessing all the way through a meal? I sure did today.

My lunchtime fare this week has consisted of Lean Cuisine-type dinners and leftovers from home. Most of the time, these kind of meals are all right with me. They're fairly healthy, convenient and inexpensive. And I would get tired of eating out all the time.

But then to my own fortune, I left my Lean Cuisine and last night's leftovers in the fridge due to the distraction of driving to work in stormy weather. (Even though Gunter did an outstanding job last night cooking chicken quesadillas.) To me, that meant only one thing -- I must go out. Really, it's my only option.

Out I went with a single-minded passion for a cheeseburger. I've wanted one for a few days, but I've used restraint.

So as I devoured my long-awaited Sonic cheeseburger with all the fixins, I ate with my eyes closed to fully enjoy every bite. Cheeseburgers for lunch might not seem like a good way to take care of the Holy Spirit's temple, but it certainly stimulated my sense of thankfulness and my prayer life. "Thank you, Lord, for this Sonic cheeseburger."

I know not everyone got a Sonic cheeseburger for lunch today, so I thanked God for mine all the way to the last bite.

Spring green

2009-03-26T16:29:00.005-05:00

I don’t know about y’all, but I’m starting to get spring fever. I’ve noticed some urges developing that I didn’t have just a couple of weeks ago. I have a mysterious desire to buy new spring clothes (not surprising, but potentially dangerous), do things outside and go to the beach!

Even more surprising, I’d like to spend my Saturday cleaning out our junkroom(s), one of which will turn into a nursery. Now, how much sense does that make? If I were smart, I’d put it off until I was so big I couldn’t move and let other people clean out my junk. That, along with at least the beach trip, will probably have to be put off momentarily for more pressing projects (e.g., Israel presentation Sunday night and VBS clinic next month). Maybe my enthusiasm will not have faded by then.

About this time every year I get a hankering for plantlife, to cultivate happy green and flowery things around my yard. The funny part is, either I did not inherit the green thumb from my mom, Aunt Pam, Dear Grandmother and PawPaw, or it just hasn’t budded yet. So every year I start out with mostly hand-me-downs from the real gardeners, which is sad because these plants go from an environment where they’ve been loved and cared for to a place where they completely fend for themselves, exposed to all the harsh elements.

I never cease to be amazed by how resilient plants actually are. I have learned that certain petunias and mums can morph into types of winter cacti, going months with no water and withstanding hard freeze after hard freeze. They’re like Lazarus. Every winter, I think I’ve surely lost them. I’m not the expert horticulturalist, but in my mind, brown and rotten = dead. And yet, when I arrived home from Israel, there they were, in as much green glory as they could muster, fighting back the brown twigs left from last year.

I’m just not sure what I’m going to do about the wooden barrel of ivy that has persisted through a covering of clover weeds and a giant ant bed.

And those are the plants I have displayed near my front porch! You don’t even want to know about the ones on the back porch.

Victims I’ve collected so far this spring: a snowball tree and a red crabapple tree from Pam and Grammama, and mums from Mama. I asked if the snowball tree could be dug up and transplanted the next time we move, but the poor thing probably won’t live that long anyway.

I really will try, though, I promise. With all the rain we're getting, maybe they won’t drown in their temporary bucket home before I can plant them.

Sudden Slumber Syndrome

2009-03-24T14:18:00.001-05:00

I think we’ve gotten back into the swing of things. We cooked last night for the first time since being back (overindulging in cravings will catch up with you when those cravings include cheeseburgers, pizza and Southern fried chicken). I’ve had two good days back at work, and I did pretty well after not working for 2 whole weeks. During my time off, I became a liberated woman – no purse, cell phone, PDA or computer for about a week and a half.

The 7-hour time change didn’t seem to treat us too badly. But it’s obvious that I remain physically unable to stay awake past 9:30 p.m. I tend to nod off around 7 if I’m sitting still. I’m beginning to think I have some sort of medical condition. It can create some pretty embarrassing situations.

I have been known to fall asleep with company at our house, as our friends the Stanleys have witnessed on more than one occasion and my in-laws saw first-hand Friday night. I mean, sitting straight up on the couch having a conversation. One minute I’m talking, and the next, my eyes have rolled back into my head.

It’s like Cinderella rushing to be home by midnight or her carriage turns into a pumpkin, except my time ends at the stroke of 9, and I’m the one who turns into the vegetable. “I’m sorry, friends, but you have to leave now. It’s almost 9:00 and Bethany won’t last much longer.”
This problem makes for some romantic date nights, too. We go out to eat, we come home, put in a movie, and within the first 30 minutes, I’m snoozing and Gunter is up by himself. He tries to help me stay awake, but that’s when I start talking crazy and getting unruly. Thank goodness he loves me anyway. The only way to prevent my sudden slumber syndrome is if I stay busy for the duration of the movie. No relaxing for me. Instead, I’m folding laundry to stay awake.

Gunter doesn’t understand it, and I don’t either. I always know it’s coming, but I am powerless to fight it off. I don’t want to fall asleep, but it’s completely involuntary. Does anyone else have this problem? How do you live a normal life?

Shalom, y'all!

2009-03-22T13:33:00.014-05:00

We are back! South Alabama has never looked so good. When we got back to U.S. soil, I was inspired to sing the National Anthem with new words, motivated by how glad I was to be back as well as sleep deprivation (precisely 53 hours without a bed or a shower). I don't remember my rendition exactly, but I know it included cheeseburgers and English-only road signs.

I regret I was unable to update while we were in Israel. Whenever we had a spare minute at our first hotel, so did everyone else, and the Internet was overloaded. The next hotel charged $8 an hour for Internet use, and y'all know I'm just too cheap for that.

We really appreciate your prayers for us. Everything went so smoothly, it could have only been God's mercy at work. The only bad incident the entire trip was when a car in a parking lot bumped our 71-year-old guide on the last day. Seriously, people drive within inches over there, and sometimes, they choose to close even that small gap.

Our time in Israel was altogether enjoyable and enlightening. Best trip we've ever taken. It wasn't at all like I imagined it would be. The country was gorgeous! Galilee was very green and mountainous. Everywhere we looked, we saw flowers, trees and farmland -- grapefruit, apples, mangoes, bananas, olives...

This is the cliff near Nazareth the angry crowd tried to throw Jesus from, but he passed through their midst (Luke 4).

Here is the view of the Sea of Galilee from our hotel. Notice the rainbow in the center.

Even the desert around the Dead Sea and Jerusalem was beautiful. We thought we were done with winding roads, but that part was mountainous, too.

We took a boat ride on the smooth Sea of Galilee and were baptized in the frigid Jordan River. We scaled a mountain to Herod the Great's fortress at Masada and worshipped in the Garden of Gethsemane. We read Psalm 88 in the waterless cistern where Caiaphas held Jesus the night before His crucifixion and visited an empty, borrowed garden tomb.

One of our favorites was the ruins of Bet She'an (see 1 Samuel 31). It was uncovered less than 20 years ago, and the hill in the background is yet to be excavated. We did a little excavating of our own in the areas that had already been picked through and brought home some pottery that is at least 1,200 years old.

I won't weigh the blog down with all the details. You should go experience it for yourself.

Though I enjoyed visiting the places Jesus ministered, my favorite sites were those God still has major plans for. I was especially moved at the Temple Mount and Western Wall. Though the Dome of the Rock mosque now sits there, it was amazing to stand near the place where the Holy of Holies was, where God interacted with His chosen people and covered their sins each year before He provided His eternal sacrifice -- near part of this same mountain where He provided a substitute sacrifice for Abraham's son Isaac.

Thoughts of the torn veil were fresh on my mind as we made our way toward the Western Wall. I prayed there surrounded by women swaying as they read the Torah and crying over their Hebrew prayer books. They are passionate. They have no temple for sacrifices, but they do so much in efforts to follow the Law. They long for their Messiah.

Muslims who visit the mosques just on the other side of the wall are passionate, too. They pray toward Mecca 5 times a day and follow a strict code in hopes of getting into heaven. They also want a messiah to come.

As I stood there at the wall among many who long for Messiah's redemption but don't know His name, I prayed for the revealing of Truth and a peace in Jerusalem that only Messiah can bring.

What a life-changing experience! We're supposed to share about the trip with our church next Sunday night, so I'll post more photos on Facebook after that. As much as I love to travel, I think we'll stick closer to home for a while. I'd like my next big trip to be a day at a beautiful Florida beach. Anyone who vacations at the Dead Sea is missing out. This is not exactly sugar-white sand.

Day 3 - still traveling...

2009-03-10T02:52:00.004-05:00

*Disclaimer: Forgive me if this makes no sense. It's almost 9 a.m. here, but it's almost 3 a.m. Alabama time.

Hello from the Vienna International Airport! I got my first glimpse of a country besides the U.S. this morning, and it was Austria. We are sitting in a coffee shop waiting for our flight to Israel. The photo above was taken after our overnight flight.

We fared well on the flight between Dulles and Austria. Smooth ride, food every few minutes and middle-row seats to ourselves. We didn't sleep much, but I feel pretty good. Gunter's dragging a little, but maybe he'll get some sleep on the next flight.

As we desended, it was hard to believe that what we were seeing was Austria. We did see some snow-covered mountains, green farmland and pretty white houses with red roofs, like little villages. Perhaps the coolest were the windmills. I know they're a common sight in the Midwest, but I've never seen one before.

Boarding the plane for Israel in about 30 minutes. More later.

Day 2 - still traveling

2009-03-09T12:05:00.003-05:00

It's been a lazy...um, restful day here at the hotel. We haven't left all day. There isn't much around, so we've just stayed here. I'm not really looking forward to the rest of our flying time, but I am about ready to bust out of here and get going.

We should land in Vienna around 9 a.m. their time (3 a.m. Alabama time, I think) and fly out again a couple hours later. It's a good thing I tend to fall asleep early and get up early...just maybe not that early.

*Not my photo.* Just makes you want to break out in a Southern-drawl rendition of "Edelweiss," doesn't it? Wish we had some Vienna sausages (pronounced "Vy-ae-nee" in LA).

Maybe these posts will get more interesting soon, but not from horror stories.

Day 1 - traveling

2009-03-08T23:00:00.004-05:00

I heart the Pensacola airport. Seriously, it is such a happy, easy place. The employees have a sense of humor (at least today), the process is quick and painless, and the terminals look like this:

Notice the lack of crowds and stress.

Mama and Daddy Mullinax dropped us off, and Mama and Daddy Dye are supposed to pick us up next Wednesday night. We have it made!

Back to Pensacola. It was about a 30-second walk from the security line to our gate. And ours was no dinky plane. We used the walk-through tunnel instead of the ground and steps up to the plane. I like the tunnels so much better because tunnels = bigger plane than steps. Our 48-minute flight was decently smooth.

Now, we're in ATL, and Gunter has gone in search for Nathan's hot dogs. Too bad our gate isn't near the Chick-Fil-A we saw back in the A concourse.

We're supposed to leave here at 8 p.m., and hopefully, we'll be at Dulles by 9:45 and at our hotel not too much later. Tomorrow, we'll be in search of a watch (perhaps the one thing we forgot), a late check-out and a place to eat.

UPDATE:
Our flight from ATL was right on time. The captain said the descent would be a little bumpy, but I was so busy talking to a woman named Kimberly (actually, doctor Kimberly), I didn't notice.

We were walking through Dulles by 10 p.m., got our luggage and rode a shuttle to our hotel. We are a little tired now. We'll have breakfast here, not sure about lunch, check out about 2 p.m. and take the shuttle back to Dulles for 2 more days of traveling!

I pray that this entire trip will go as smoothly as today so we can keep our minds focused where they should be, but God knows best.

Bon voyage!

2009-03-06T14:29:00.004-06:00

I have quite a bit still left to do before we leave for Israel, so this might be the last time I’m able to write for a while. I’ll do my best to update the blog while we’re there, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll have time or easy access to the Internet. So if you don’t hear from me for the next 2 weeks, no need to worry. Just pray instead.

I haven’t been nervous until last night, but I knew it was coming. I don’t feel anxious right now, but I woke up about 3:00 this morning with my nerves tingling. It hit me again immediately when the alarm went off. I must have been dreaming about the trip because Gunter said I was saying strange words and talking about the “Israel house” in my sleep. I can’t imagine how I’m going to feel when the time comes to actually leave.

I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday, and everything looks normal. We heard the baby’s heartbeat and all, so that made me feel much better before leaving the country for 11 days! My next appointment is April 2, and I’ll have an ultrasound that day.

Packing is a big ordeal for me…It’s a complex and detailed process. I began the endeavor months ago by making lists. A few weeks ago, I shopped and accumulated. Then came the pile-making (in the den and bathroom floors). Last night, I narrowed down what I will wear and washed.

In the midst of last night’s efforts, I determined that I will not bring one “normal” pair of pants. Actually, I’m not bringing a single pair with buttons or zippers. It’s a good thing I went ahead and bought those maternity jeans, huh? I’m bringing one pair of maternity jeans, one (or two?) pair of maternity khakis, and the rest are stretchy lounge-type pants. I won’t be in the running for best dressed, but I should be comfortable.

We now have the suitcases we will use, including carry-ons. I get one “personal item” in addition to my carry on (e.g. a purse, laptop case or something of similar size).

Size -- ha.

I went to Walmart and bought a heavy-canvas hobo purse so big, it’s like having a second carry-on. My philosophy is, if it’s allowed, make it count.

Tomorrow is set aside for for-real packing and cleaning house.

We’ll arrive in D.C. late Sunday night, spend the night there and fly to Austria at 7:50 Monday night. We should get to Israel sometime Tuesday. If all goes as planned, we’ll be back in Alabama on Thursday, March 19.

Hopefully, you’ll hear from me again in a few days. If not, I hope you have a blessed couple of weeks!

Diary of a happy white woman

2009-03-03T14:30:00.004-06:00

Today, I broke down and donned maternity pants. I had been putting it off because I figured it was still too early, but judging by the button imprint left on my abdomen yesterday (and the fact that I had NO clean dress pants this morning), I knew it was time. I’m not certain that the pants I’m wearing today should even count as maternity pants, though, because I’m pretty sure I could have worn them 6 months ago.

Daddy and Gunter attended a men’s conference Friday night and Saturday morning, so Mom and I put our time without them to good use. Friday night, we ate at David’s Catfish, attempted to make a packing list and then I introduced her to one of my favorite movies, “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.” Quality time.

By the way, I know full well that Madea movies are not the most wholesome. She needs a mouthful of soap, but I'm sure anyone who's tried it on her has come face-to-face with her "piece a steel."

Saturday, we shopped for trip necessities, mainly long-sleeved shirts, stretchy pants and a jacket. I gather that the weather in Israel is sort of like Alabama’s – unpredictable – so I figure with long-sleeved T-shirts, a light jacket and an emergency 88-cent poncho, I’ll be ready for anything.

The folks from Liberty keep telling us to bring at least one pair of long pants for when we visit the holy sites. Weather.com says the recent temperatures have ranged from the 50s to the 70s. Those snowbirds from Virginia can wear shorts if they want to, but we from LA (Lower Alabama) don’t even pull out the capris until the thermometer says at least 80 degrees and sunny.

Speaking of unpredictable weather, it snowed at our house Sunday, and I’m pretty sure Gunter was as excited as any kid on our street. I, on the other hand, am not big on snow. I like to look at it and watch it fall from inside. Being outside in snow = being cold and wet.

We stocked up on travel snacks last night at Wal-Mart. I’ll never be able to pack all that stuff. Actually, I stocked up on snacks, but Gunter only had eyes for some 100 Calorie Pack cupcake things.

I thought you might like to see where we’ll be staying while in Israel. The first part of the trip, we’re staying at this hotel in Tiberius, on the Sea of Galilee. For the next 5 days, we’ll stay here in Jerusalem.

Mom was pleasantly surprised when she saw the hotels. Apparently, she thought we’d be staying in a cave somewhere, “like in Bible times.” Thankfully not. Caves don’t have beds or hairdryers.

Oh, another bit of good news: We’ll tour every day until about 6 p.m., and then we’re asked to stay in the hotel after dinner. The staying-at-the-hotel-in-the-evening part is the news I’m excited about. That means this non-night owl pregnant woman will have time in the evenings to rest and recuperate! Sounds like Gunter will have plenty of classwork to do, but he can handle it. I tend to meltdown in states of perpetual exhaustion.

Getting excited! Will start packing after some of our clothes are clean again.

Fun for Friday

2009-02-27T12:05:00.007-06:00

Today, I decided I'd copy Heather's post because it sounded like fun! Mimicry is the truest form of flattery, right? So feel free to copy me, too. To play, just...

1. Go to Google.
2. Type in "[YOUR NAME] needs" (e.g., I typed in "Bethany needs").
3. Blog about Google's advice.
4. Don't trust Google. It can meet your Internet searching needs, but not your real-life needs.

Bethany needs...

...a middle name. Wrong, Google. I have 2 middle names now, but Bethany's baby does need a middle name. And a first name. Google suggests Bethany Renae, Bethany Elizabeth and Bethany Anne.
...a new liver "or else she could be dead by Christmas." Wow, I didn't know I was in such bad shape. How about fried chicken livers instead? I wouldn't mind having one of those.
...you. Not sure what for, but don't say you don't feel needed.
...help. That's true, but I think this is another post about the liver transplant. I do need help in plenty of other ways, though.
...to go home. I like that suggestion, Google!
...parents who love her. Google, you can scratch that one off your list.

My list didn't turn out as fun as I thought it might, so I'm going to also copy the second part of Heather's post -- creating my own CD cover. Here are the rules:

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Hit "random." The first article is the name of your band.
3. Go to Random Quotations, and the last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.
4. Go to Flickr and click on "the last 7 days" near the bottom. The third picture is your album cover.
5. Use an image editing program and post your album cover.

Here's mine:

My band is named Flores da Cunha, after a municipality in the state Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. I like that! The album name is Offer Me the Position. Obviously, we are a bilingual band notably influenced by our love of Brazil, on a never ending search for a career near the beach. Think "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" with a distinctly Latin feel.

I'll be signing autographs as soon as the CD tops the charts.

Lock-in

2009-02-25T13:55:00.006-06:00

Technically, can it be called a “lock-in” if the minister’s wife breaks out and heads for home at 3 a.m….or if we spend as much time out as we did in?

The so-called lock-in was an awful lot of fun! Our first order of business was to eat pizza (always a good way to start), and to make it even better, some wonderful person had actually stocked CAFFEINE-FREE Diet Sam’s cola. It might have even been my husband, but I was so pleasantly surprised, I forgot to ask. Before you get worried about the “diet” part, know that I am paranoid, so I don’t overdo artificial sweeteners.

So now, it’s 9:30 p.m., and I am still wide awake.

Next, a bunch of giggling 7th grade girls piled in my car to go glow bowling. Many things about 7th grade girls cause me to scratch my head in puzzlement, but I do love me some enthusiastic junior high kids. To illustrate these girls’ enthusiasm, one in the backseat kept saying, “This is an awesome car.” Ha. To anyone else, it’s just a dirty, gray, four-door Ford, but to a 7th grade girl, it’s “awesome.” We also maneuvered through the parking lot in a huddle.

These boys might look like they're not having much fun, but they really are.

The bowling alley was jumpin’, so we waited a while. You know, second-hand smoke is good for the sinuses. I wonder…at what point did bowling become partners with drinking beer and smoking cigarettes indoors? It’s like you’re making one of the dorkiest sports a “cool” date idea by pairing it with long-necked bottles, tight metallic T-shirts and lung cancer.

I do, however, understand the social aspects of bowling. That’s what I go for, not so much to actually roll the ball.

It’s now somewhere around 1 a.m….still going strong.

Back to the church for Rotel dip and cookies.

Gunter wanted me to run the sound during our worship time (which for me means pressing “play” and “stop” on the CD player while operating one slider for volume), so logically, he moved worship time up in the schedule so there’d be a better chance of me still being awake.

Sadly, worship did me in. I was nodding off in the Spirit.

At that point, my stamina was pretty much depleted. I decided it would be safer for me to go home and to bed than to drive a group of kids around town for a video scavenger hunt, which was next on the agenda.

I did get to see the videos of the scavenger hunt and the Murder in the Dark night vision the next day, so I didn’t completely miss out. Gunter got home about 7:30 or 8 Saturday morning, and we spent most of the day recovering from our night of fun.

Hope you youth enjoyed the lock-in! We’ll go ahead and plan the next one in about 5 years.

13 weeks and then some

2009-02-20T14:34:00.005-06:00

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted a baby update (as if it hasn’t been on my mind). I guess I talk about it so much in real life, I don’t feel the need to blog about it, or I forget that I haven’t.

I’m 13 weeks now. I still feel good, except for occasional bouts of sleepiness, which are nothing out of the ordinary for me. I’m not suffering from the constant, biting hunger I once was, but I continue to eat more often than most. Maybe it’s a mind thing, maybe it’s to keep my blood sugar regulated or maybe it’s just because I like to eat.

Speaking of blood sugar, I have had a couple episodes. I’ve had minor issues with my blood sugar before, but because I take great pleasure in snacks, I don’t have problems often.

There was one scary incident when I woke up in the middle of the night with a little bit of pain in my midsection. Getting out of bed was no easy task, and neither was stumbling the few feet to the bathroom feeling dizzy, nauseated and sweaty all over. For a while, I figured I had caught a virus that had been going around, but when I got to the bathroom, nothing ever happened. In about 15 minutes, I felt better and went back to bed. The nurse said it could have been my blood sugar, and I haven’t had anything like that happen since.

Strange things happen when you’re pregnant. Seems like it’s something different every day. Or is it that I just pay more attention to every little sensation?

I am feeling pretty chunky around the midsection. I guess you could say that I’m poking out a little, but it doesn’t look like a cute poke-out to me. It just looks like I’ve gained some weight and have a spare tire sitting on top of my britches. I’ve pulled the rubber-band-through-the-buttonhole trick on a couple pairs of my pants, but I can still wear most of them without much trouble. Longer, looser shirts are, of course, more comfortable, but I’ve tried not to delve into my maternity clothes pile too much yet.

Sorry I have no new photos to share. Some days I look a tad on the pregnant side, and some days, I don’t…at least in my opinion.

Babycenter.com tells me the baby is almost 3 inches long and weighs nearly an ounce – about the size of a medium shrimp. A shrimp? What? How could we go from a lime last week to a shrimp this week? Limes are bigger than shrimps!

My next doctor’s appointment is on March 5, just 2 days before we leave on our trip (good timing and God’s mercy!). Then, we should find out the baby’s gender at the next appointment, probably the last week in March or the first week in April.

We've been tossing around some names, but no significant progress there. We haven't started transforming the junk room into the nursery, either. That's awful, isn't it?

Anyway, there’s my baby update at 13 weeks.

We have a youth lock-in tonight at church, and it sounds like Gunter has a great time planned! I’m going to hold out as long as I can, hopefully at least until 2 or 3 a.m., after our worship time. But, considering I usually feel like going to bed by about 7, staying that long is doubtful. Thank God for willing adult chaperones!

Plans

2009-02-18T08:05:00.003-06:00

Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the LORD will stand. - Proverbs 19:21

Ran across this Proverb during my time with God this morning. I've gotten some pretty clear, straightforward lessons lately. I'm so glad that God has His way, no matter what our plans are.

Give our regards to Broadway...and Brooklyn

2009-02-16T21:23:00.005-06:00

A trip update: We are still going to Israel, but we are not going to New York City.

We got our flight plans from DuCar Tours, the travel agency handling the Israel part of the trip, the other day, and they had “IAD” on our itinerary, not “JFK.” I got the worst feeling in the pit of my stomach when I saw it. I wasn’t sure at first what “IAD” meant, but I knew it wasn’t “JFK,” like we had been told…up until a month before the trip. I soon found out that “IAD” meant Dulles International Airport, 26 miles outside Washington, D.C.

Cue pregnant emotional meltdown.

That is, after I called DuCar and found out there was no way to trade airports or tickets. They had “already been printed.” And we all know that printer ink might as well be blood.

Apparently, they encourage everyone to wait to make their travel arrangements until receiving official flight plans from them. I must have missed the memo with that important bit of information, along with “Pay no attention to the itinerary on our Web site or the paperwork we sent you. We cannot guarantee you will leave from the location we told you or at the time we told you.” Still haven’t seen that anywhere.

I’m okay now. Really. I just wasn’t very okay for a few minutes there. As usual, Gunter took it in stride.

We rescheduled our domestic flights (what's an extra $300 fee when you've paid so much already, right?), cancelled our hotel in NYC and got a new one in Sterling, VA. We’ll leave on Sunday instead of on Saturday, fly out of Dulles on Monday, make a happy little stop the next morning in Vienna, Austria, and arrive in Tel Aviv Tuesday afternoon. What better opportunity for me to learn some key German phrases! Could anyone tell me how to pronounce, “Where is my plane?”

I realize there are real problems in the world much worse than not getting to go to New York City. I know I'm spoiled. God helped me work through my anger and psycho-planner issues, and I believe I’m moved on with my life. Life doesn’t follow my plan…just a small lesson in adulthood.

It’s me, moving toward maturity, one raging tantrum at a time.

Good news

2009-02-13T13:21:00.002-06:00

Good news! Gunter's scans were clear, and his blood work looked great. Thank you, Lord! And thank y'all for your prayers.

Scans

2009-02-10T14:30:00.002-06:00

Yep, it's that time again. Gunter has checkup scans on Wednesday, and we'll meet with the doctor for the results on Thursday. We appreciate your prayers!

26 wonderful reasons to celebrate the birthday boy!

2009-02-09T14:28:00.005-06:00

Today is Gunter's 26th birthday! In honor of the birthday boy, I'd like to embarrass the mess out of him by posting a list of 26 reasons I love him. So, here it be.

1. He knows what makes me laugh and does it over and over.
2. He has an unquenchable hunger to learn.
3. He would rather drag me off the couch and endure verbal abuse than leave me alone to wake up in the middle of the night in the dark.
4. He not only has a servant’s heart, but also a servant’s hands.
5. Being a part of a mighty movement of God is His life’s passion.
6. He’s easy to get along with.
7. He takes one thing at a time and doesn’t get bent out of shape about the future.
8. He spurs me on to righteousness but doesn’t hold my faults against me.
9. He's great with kids...Okay, he's great with everyone.
10. He is FUN!
11. He doesn’t shy away from an adventure.
12. He’s intelligent.
13. He is humble. He's been good-looking and talented his whole life, but he's never acknowledged it.
14. He constantly sacrifices for the good of others.

15. He exhibits patience with people.
16. He’s good at what I’m not, and he lets me be good at what I am.
17. He values my opinion and invites my help.
18. He likes to spend time with me, and he lets me know it.
19. He is careful with money but doesn't care a thing about having much of it.
20. He helps around the house, not because he has to, but because he’s a good man.
21. He can speak the language of every place he’s visited.
22. He is a hard worker.
23. He taught me to cook chicken roll-ups and breakfast muffins. He makes better omelets than the Waffle House.
24. He has more hair on his arms than I do.
25. He is trustworthy.
26. He is always himself, never put on, and people respect him for it.

Happy birthday, Husband! I'm so glad you were born!

Goin' home

2009-02-09T14:15:00.003-06:00

After a 3-year illness, Gunter's granddaddy, Willard Durell Galimore, went home to be with Jesus on Tuesday, February 3. We miss you, Granddaddy Galimore, but we're so happy for you.

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints. Psalm 116:15

Better late than never

2009-02-02T11:39:00.005-06:00

Talk about a late responder! Melissa @ MyBlueMorning tagged me over 2 weeks ago, and I am just now participating.

The Rules:
1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3) Explain the picture.
4) Tag 4 people to do the same. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)!

Here is my very intriguing picture. As you can see, it’s a stack of boxes in a hallway. But not just any hallway. I took this picture as we prepared to move from our house in Sanford to New Brockton. It seemed like a long, painful process, but was exciting at the same time. We’re happy where we are now, but seeing a picture of those familiar walls brings back such good memories…even with all that piled-up junk.

Since this tag has gone around so much already, I won’t officially tag anyone to participate, but I think Melissa @ MyLifeasitHappens, Penny @ DailyDoseofDribbles and Christi @ TwoPeasinOurPod might be the most likely to want to play.

Name ideas

2009-01-29T18:02:00.004-06:00

I pondered baby names on the way home from work today.

No progress on the baby names, but I did decide that, if I ever have a pet pig, I would like to name him "Hammy" ...or "Hammie" for a girl pig. If I had both, I could call them Hammy and Spammie.

A 45-minute, country-road commute will cause you to produce such lofty thoughts.

'Nuff said

2009-01-28T11:52:00.005-06:00

What I'm doing today:

What I feel like doing today:

But am I thankful for my job? Yes, ma'am! Back to work.

Have reservations, will travel!

2009-01-26T16:06:00.004-06:00

Amidst the Salad excitement, we temporarily put our trip planning on hold, but now it’s back and better than ever. We finally booked a hotel for our two nights in New York City!

Heeding some helpful advice from my new friend and personal travel agent, Jen, I went to priceline.com and various other travel Web sites to look for hotel deals. I admit, it was a bit overwhelming at first (for most places near Lower Alabama, you just know where you’re going and you go there), but after a few hours browsing yesterday afternoon, Gunter and I narrowed the search to a hotel we both felt pretty good about. Here it is, in all its NOT-$700-per-night glory, unlike some others we saw.

It’s in Midtown Manhattan, across the street from Carnegie Hall and just a few blocks away from Central Park. An added convenience would be its proximity to a Starbucks if I were not avoiding caffeine. But don't worry...Jen just sent me an e-mail with a whole list of great places to eat! Woo-hoo! I'm ready to go now! Seriously, I think she's my NYC guardian angel.

Whew! So that’s a big item checked off my list. Now, I'll just take Jen's advice and work on a more detailed itinerary and the best ways to get everywhere.

We haven’t received any details from Liberty about the Israel part of the trip, so I, Planner Extraordinaire, have taken matters into my own hands. In other words, I’m searching the Internet and e-mailing lists of questions to everyone I know who has ever stepped foot in the Holy Land.

Soon, I will begin stockpiling trail mix in large quantities, so don’t be surprised if a vending machine near you is out from now until March.

I thought I’d need 12 days worth of maternity clothes by the time we left (weeks 15-17), but I think I’ll have to address what to pack closer to time. Apparently, you can’t call what I have a “pooch” quite yet, but maybe my Stowaway will be more obvious by then so I can play the pregnancy card as much as possible. For example (in my best Southern drawl), "Would you trade seats with me? That part of the plane is just too bumpy for a pregnant girl." Or how about, "Would you load my luggage, please? I'm not supposed to lift anything heavy on account of the Baby." Even better, "I need to sit in the front of the bus. You know how awful morning sickness can be."

They don't have to know that I've had no morning sickness, do they?

Sense of adventure

2009-01-23T16:09:00.008-06:00

I’ve worked in a new cubicle for several months now, and I still have no decoration, unless you count my boots, hardhat and various binders. I don’t look at the space often because I have my back to most of it all day. But I’ve decided it’s about time to make my “office” a little more appealing to the eyes.

As my first step toward that end, I was browsing for photos to put in frames when I realized how much fun the past few years have been. Even the times that were not so fun were full of life. The same feeling rushed over me that I get every year when that first feeling of spring graces a Lower Alabama morning.

And then I wondered, where has my sense of adventure gone? My thrill for everyday life? I guess it never completely disappeared, but it’s been sort of squeezed out of my mind during the past few weeks.

Does becoming accountable for another human life cause a girl to go from just that to being a “responsible adult” who hasn’t the time or the brainpower to think of anything other than that responsibility? Must insurance, daycare, breadwinning and preparation attach themselves to the soul and weigh it down like lead coats? As a child grows, must life begin to grow more serious?

Uh oh. I think my worry-wart personality has taken over.

The planner in me wants to know what life will be like after the baby is born. Right now, I want to be completely prepared for everything and know all there is to know about properly providing for and raising a child while fulfilling the roles of wife, ministry helper and all-around perfect woman.

HAHAHAHAHA I believe I have finally met my match…again.

Have I ever been able to predict life? No. Has everything always turned out okay, WONDERFUL even, by God’s hand? Yes.

What would I do if God had not provided a very non-worry-wart husband and examples of his faithfulness for this irrational girl to remember? I was never meant to clench my own burdens in one hand and joy in the other. You know what I’m getting at.

For every new experience and every uncharted stage, He makes life abundant. He is my great adventure and my happy ending.

At least for today, I'm ready to ride off into the sunset, though I'm sure He'll have to sweep me out of my fuddy-duddy mindset again before it's all over.

"...I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10

Weekend run-down

2009-01-19T13:23:00.003-06:00

Today is one of those got-the-full-six-pack-but-not-the-plastic-thingy-to-hold-it-together kind of days. I’ll be out of town at a work conference the next few days, so today was about my best bet for getting a blog posted this week.

Here’s the weekend run-down:

Friday
Beginning of my eating guilt trip. Though I’ve been eating pretty much nonstop for the past week, at least I mostly stuck to foods that were halfway nutritional. Until lunch with good friends from Opp...unless, of course, you consider beef, bread, fries and ice cream “nutritional.” Friday night, had a wonderful supper with parents, Dear Grandmother and Aunt Pam. The shrimp might as well have fallen from Heaven.

Is it common for food to taste this good during the first trimester? I sure hope my first and second trimesters didn’t get flip-flopped. If they did, I’m in for a rude awakening in a few weeks.

Saturday
Gunter served as sightreading judge for all-state band tryouts in Andalusia. I started out hiding behind his partition with a good book and a bag of Cheerios but ended up as a runner (no actual running required) for his room. It brought me back to the old days when we tried out for all-state band, though I’ve never seen it from the judges’ side. I remembered how nervous I was standing in line in the crowded concrete-block hallways. How we listened through the doors as others played before us. The thrill of beating the cocky boy beside me in line. Ah, memories.

Mexican food with Gunter’s sister and stepmom for lunch.

Saturday evening, we made a quick trip to Granny and PawPaw’s house in Dothan to see my first cousin and her family who had just returned to the States from Japan. Sarah is only 6 months younger than I am, so we used to play together a lot when we were little. Six months younger than me, and now she has a husband, two sweet little girls and a house. It made me so happy to see how her life is turning out.

Hers is my Filipino side of the family, so it’s always fun to be around that bunch of women.

Supper: Southern/Filipino homecooking.

Sunday
Church, and then Mellow Mushroom. Salad’s got to have his or her share of cheese, olives and crust, right? I tried to balance out the feta cheese with spinach and tomato sauce. At home, I attempted to watch “Mama Mia” while doing laundry but had to turn it off not even halfway through to keep from going crazy. I don’t make laundry a habit on Sunday afternoon, but my ox was in a ditch…a ditch piled high with laundry on every side.

Sunday night: choir practice, discipleship, church, Ramen noodles and a microwaved sweet potato. Strangely felt like the healthiest thing I’d had all weekend. Tried to watch one of my Muppet movies while finishing laundry since “Mama Mia” didn’t work out. We both fell asleep on the couch. Missed the last rinse cycle and the answer to the great mystery of where Gonzo really came from.

More exciting commentary as the week progresses.

The real story

2009-01-15T12:08:00.004-06:00

I’m going to write this post as if none of you know this already, though most of you do.

If it seems as though my blog has been lacking lately (as though it were the picture of brilliance before), there’s a good reason. My mind has been on things that I didn’t think I should put on the Internet yet, but it’s the real story of what’s going on in my life right now. So unless you want to keep reading about candle packaging, I’d better come clean.

Introducing Baby Akridge at 7 weeks.

For fun, let’s call him or her “Salad.” No particular reason. Gunter and I have just always talked about what a humorous name that would be for a child, along with Lasagna and some others I can’t remember.

The ultrasound was taken a little over a week ago, and I read that Salad (as in singular) has changed a lot since then. He or she was a mere 7 millimeters long last week, but has now grown to about the size of a kidney bean.

Which makes me wonder…where is all that extra food going? Seriously, I’ve never seen a kidney bean require so much sustenance. Unless, all those snacks aren’t going to the kidney bean…

Anyway, we first found out about Salad on December 21. I didn’t believe either test. Didn’t believe the doctor’s test the next day, either. I wasn’t sick or abnormally tired. I thought maybe I was just having some sort of weird hormonal glitch.

Gunter was thrilled from day one, but I wouldn’t let myself get excited until I was sure there actually was a baby in there. When I saw the ultrasound, and the doctor assured me that this was a baby and not a tapeworm, I finally realized I was pregnant.

Blessing upon blessing.

Salad is due August 25.

To say that the family is excited would be an understatement. “Giddy” is how I might describe a few of them. (If you know them, there’s no need for me to call any names.) Salad will be the first grandchild for my parents and Gunter’s dad’s family, and the first great-grandchild on my maternal grandparents’ side.

Actually, many people have been excited for us, and it means so much.

So now you know why it’s been a little tough to scrape up something to write about lately. I’ve had plenty to write about, but I wouldn’t let myself.

Please feel free to share your good advice about how to take care of Salad or what I might expect! No horror stories, please. I’m a big enough worry-wart already.

The Boomerang Effect

2009-01-13T12:19:00.005-06:00

When you see the object above, what do you think of?

a) A funny clothes hanger without the hook thing

b) Crocodile Dundee

c) A fun-filled Outback vacation

d) VBS 2009

If you answered d), you must be one of the outstanding individuals ready to take on Boomerang Express this summer. If d) was not your answer, chances are it will be by the time school starts back in the fall.

A funny thing happened to me the other day. I agreed to teach our association's kindergarten VBS clinic. If you know me, you understand what is so humorous about that statement. Because, if you know me, you know how little I know about kindergartners or teaching them...much less teaching other people how to teach them! In light of my lack of expertise, coupled with all I have going on this spring/summer, I started to decline the offer to help.

But then, I thought back to this very month 21 years ago, when I gave Jesus my heart at the age of almost five. Teaching is far from my "spiritual gift," and I don't know much about 5-year-olds, but I can bring one thing to the table -- a living example to these teachers of why what they're about to do is so important.

And I'm just one of many.

Creative packaging

2009-01-09T12:13:00.002-06:00

I got a candle as a gift a few weeks ago. At first glance, it seemed to be an ordinary votive candle, candy cane scented. But oh, as I read the package, I realized that I held in my hands so much more than an ordinary votive.

In fact, it's called a "15-hour Superior Votive." "Experience the Difference," says the Tyler Candle Company of Tyler, Texas. Let me tell you, these people are proud of their candles.

Tyler has created the "ultimate aroma experience" to ensure "maximum fragrance saturation" using, of course, "the finest quality waxes and opulent fragrance oils available." Please just humor me as I type the text from another panel of the package (emphasis mine):

"When burning our candles, the lead-free wicks will develop a black fragrance mushroom while more condensed fragrances will develop a silver white ash. This is caused by the high volume of fragrance oils which have made our candles so popular. The wick serves as a straw when burning, pulling the oil through the wax and into the air as it burns. This fragrance mushroom is a constant reminder of our dedication to a superior quality candle."

Fragrance mushroom, huh? They warn: "Be advised -- Our candles are sooo fabulous you will want more!" Notice the use of triple "ooo"s.

Wow, all this time I thought I just had a nice little Christmas candle. I had no idea that Tyler had totally reinvented the candle to provide me with the ultimate aroma experience.

The descriptiveness and drama cracked me up. If you're a nerd like me, fascinated by creative marketing, you might like this Web site. But note this disclaimer: sometimes featured packaging might be for questionable products or might contain questionable language.

Tyler Candle Company could learn a few things about "less is more." But hey, their packaging couldn't have been too bad. I just posted practically the whole thing on the Internet for free.

Thank you, Mr. Warden.

2009-01-05T22:16:00.002-06:00

TROY University lost a jewel this weekend, and many others lost a true friend and teacher…the kind that sought his students' success, gave of himself and pushed us to be more than we thought we could.

Mr. Warden was the print journalism professor and adviser to the Tropolitan, TROY’s student newspaper. I liked him from the beginning. He treated us not as students to be looked down upon, but as peers he couldn’t wait to empower. His witty sense of humor, wealth of knowledge about every subject imaginable and obvious care was enough to draw students to him, but that was only scratching the surface.

Though he left this Earth so suddenly, I can’t help but say “thank you” one more time to a professor who made a habit of detecting the least bit of potential and putting it on stage like the next new sensation.

That’s what happened to me. One minute, I was memorizing my AP Stylebook piece by piece in preparation for his next quiz, just your average print journalism student. The next, I was meeting with him about being the next editor of the Trop. I never even saw it coming. I spent the second semester of my junior year learning the ropes, and by the next fall, I began one of my most significant and most difficult learning experiences.

I remember the first Trop page I attempted to lay out. Mr. Warden and I were both just getting our feet wet in InDesign. Of course, neither of us realized every text box we drew had a stroke around it until we saw the printed page…We laughingly referred to it as, “the page o’ boxes.”

Then there was that certain editorial column…the first time I got chewed up and down by an administrator. I cried my eyes out, and Mr. Warden stood up for this clueless college student who was most likely in the wrong.

Oh, and those tiring evenings we called “Trop night.” Stress levels were high, fatigue set in, but when the pizza or McDonald’s arrived, so did the fun for all the students with their noses to the computer screens, praying the “spinning pinwheel of doom” would not pay a visit.

Trop vs. TSU-TV games, cookouts, assignments, and red marks on spreads taped to office walls. So much encouragement, instruction and ideas passed from him to us during those years. He believed in us and refused to let our many mistakes get in the way of the potential he saw. I never witnessed the end of his patience.

Many of us kept in touch with Mr. Warden after graduation. I remember the shock and honor that washed over me when he asked me to speak at the annual journalism symposium just a year later. His faith in me stretched beyond college and helped further my career. I gladly wrote a letter of recommendation for him when he was up for tenure. Even when his reputation was at stake, he seemed to have no doubt we would accomplish what he asked.

It’s far too difficult to say “goodbye” to Christopher Warden. So instead, I’ll join with countless others and just say “thank you.” You are missed already.

My hometown

2008-12-31T09:47:00.003-06:00

A question has been haunting me since last night about 10:30. Okay, maybe “haunting” is a strong word, but it’s certainly been on my mind.

Our women’s discipleship group is going through Beth Moore’s “Stepping Up” study on the Psalms of Ascent. I’m working a little ahead because I’d like to be through it before we go to Israel (if, in fact, they decide they can play nice for long enough for us to visit).

Anyway, I was filling out my workbook, and there was one question I was unable to answer. It asked how God is using me to make a difference in my hometown. I stared at it for a good while, and then I just left it blank. It was the last thought on my mind before I turned off the lamp and the first thought when my feet hit the floor this morning.

We’ve lived in New Brockton for almost three months. Bethany Baptist Church has felt like home for quite some time. Our trailer started to feel like home as soon as the cardboard boxes thinned out. But I don’t feel as though I can call a place “my hometown” until I connect with a certain number of people outside the church. Remember, this is coming from a girl who grew up in a town, population less than 5,000, for about 15 years. Elba was definitely my hometown, and I want New Brockton to be.

I would think one of the best ways to become part of a place is to work there. However, I have a wonderful job 45 minutes away. Another way – have kids in the school system. Not even close to achieving that. Get involved in some sort of organization or volunteer? Maybe there’s an idea, though time must be invested wisely.

So as I follow God’s direction, I’ll pray for New Brockton like David sang for Jerusalem in Psalm 122 and try to be a blessing where God has me.

Pray for peace in Jerusalem.
May all who love this city prosper.
O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls
and prosperity in your palaces.
For the sake of my family and friends, I will say,
“May you have peace.”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.

Cooking tip

2008-12-30T08:40:00.006-06:00

A piece of advice from the cooking expert: When you think you're going to get creative with your vegetables and roast any type of winter squash (in my case, acorn), follow the recipe. If it tells you to brush a butter and honey mixture on the squash, don't spoon it on or pour it.

Who needs the Food Network when you have me, right? I certainly don't.

The yellow meat part was actually pretty good, but nibbling around the burnt black stuff was not easy. Circled in pink is an actual piece of squash.

Join us here next time for more trial-and-error cooking with your host, Bethany Akridge.

Christmases past and present

2008-12-26T11:53:00.005-06:00

Our Christmas was great! We got to see almost everybody within a two-day span. Some of our most interesting gifts were three Muppet Movies, two bicycles, a Hebrew translation guide and a fish cooker. We also finally got us a big cooler (an essential for every married couple) and some tray tables (an essential for every married couple with a very small kitchen table).

But the best part of this Christmas, of course, was reflecting on what it meant for Jesus to come to Earth and give us hope for a life spent with Him. The second best part was being with people we love, especially each other. We treasured last Christmas, too, but let me illustrate how much this year differed from last year...

Christmas 2007, right in the throes of chemo

Christmas 2008, feeling much better

Today, I'm back to work, and it's been pretty quiet in the office. Tonight, we're going out with the Elbians, so I'd better enjoy the quiet while I can.

Christmas tidings

2008-12-22T12:54:00.011-06:00

According to weather.com, today's high in my neck of the woods is 45 degrees. The rest of the week will be in the 70s (the high 70s, even). Even though I've lived here most of my life, Alabama weather never ceases to amaze me. Good thing I don't have stock in Christmas sweaters.

Here are a few photos from the weekend. First was the youth Christmas party at Chris and Jill's. The highlight of the night was flour bomb capture the flag. Some of the playas are pictured below. Notice the guy in the gray shirt, Skeeter, and the redhead, Julie, standing near me. Their hands are together because they stopped fighting over a flour bomb just long enough to pose for the picture.

And then there was the choir cantata on Sunday, which went very well. Loved it, but glad it's over! In the bottom picture, I'm really not that white. It's the flash, I promise.

I thought you might also like to see the Christmas cards I made to hand out at church and work (excluding the choir members, who got different cards and spiced tea bags).

Merry Christmas!

Bethany B.C. Christmas Spectacular!

2008-12-18T12:48:00.007-06:00

Pretty good name for a choir cantata, huh? Thanks, I just made it up. Actually, our cantata is by Travis Cottrell, and it's called "Everything Glorious." Don't Christmas cantatas make you feel all warm and fuzzy, joyously ushering in the Christmas spirit?

Well, this is not your typical Christmas cantata.

Some traditional Christmas carols are thrown in here and there, and it's certainly enjoyable, but this cantata does not let "warm and fuzzy" get in the way of a clear message of why Jesus came and Who He is. Lots of worshipping, danceable music and celebrating the hope that only our Savior brings -- what could be any better than that? How about all those things and a solo by Gunter Akridge? You really want to be there. Just tape the TROY bowl game and come on.

If you're going to be in the area, just print this ticket and bring it with you. Or don't. You know we'll let you in.

**Update** Yes, I'm in the cantata, too. I sing alto and move around a lot. I also sing backup on Gunter's solo.

The Big, BIG Apple

2008-12-17T12:49:00.009-06:00

The exciting news is that Gunter registered for his Israel class yesterday, and I booked our plane tickets to and from New York this morning!!!

Apparently, that was the easy part.

The hard part is finding out where to stay the two nights we'll be there, what to do and how to get around. I thought we'd just pick a reasonably priced hotel near JFK Airport and go from there, but I've read some comments that it's a sketchy area (Jamaica). I've also read that the Metrocard Fun Pass is a good way to go for a few days of riding the subways and buses, as long as it's during daylight hours.

In addition to going to the Brooklyn Tabernacle on Sunday, we'd like to just hit a few of the highlights -- the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, the Empire State Building, etc.

We sure could use some advice from you if you've spent anytime in New York. Obviously, it's a little outside my area of expertise. Let me demonstrate.

New York City:

...versus my world:

Um...help?

Back in their day

2008-12-16T11:14:00.005-06:00

Ever wonder how graphic artists and publication layout people practiced their trade in the days before computer programs? Probably not. But, if you'd like to be enlightened, this is a pretty neat Web site:

The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies

Of course, this spring chicken is amazed that people actually used tools like these. I've heard stories about placing lead type, pasting and drawing by hand, all hard to imagine.

I was not born an artist, but ironically, I get paid to design, and I love it. My tools of the trade are a mouse and computer screen. Ask me to paint or draw a straight line, and you'll have an absolute mess.

My how things change -- for the better!

By the way...

2008-12-15T15:54:00.002-06:00

Trying canned, microwaved asparagus will make you never want to eat asparagus...ever...again. That probably should have been common sense.

Tomorrow, our department is having lunch together at Beef O'Brady's. Eating out will make it all better.

Seek FIRST, not last

2008-12-15T11:25:00.003-06:00

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

With all the rush and distraction this time of year can bring, I thought I was doing so well. I was careful to avoid going overboard on gifts and to get things checked off the list early. We didn’t have as many parties to attend this year, and I had determined not to get worked up over little things.

I thought I was doing so well…Until this morning, when I let the self-generated pressure of the week hit me all at once. Too much thinking while getting ready on Monday morning will do that to a girl.

I am a planner, but every good quality has its mirror pitfalls. I doubt good planning means trying to work the whole week out in my mind before it’s really even begun. Interestingly, Jesus says in the very next verse:

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

At least twice in the last two days has the Holy Spirit brought Jesus’s words to my mind, certain ones he used on Martha:

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary…” Luke 10:41-42

This morning, those words came as I drove to work, right after showing Gunter a touch of the same resentment Martha used on Mary.

What a stark contrast from Sunday to Monday! We spent last night worshipping and rejoicing as we performed our Christmas cantata at a church in a town nearby. But as soon as we were on the way home, the to-do list started creeping up on me.

What’s silly is that my to-do list is not so daunting. It just becomes that way when I get the necessary stuff or the stuff that would be good to do mixed up with the “only one thing necessary,” according to the One who knows.

It happens so easily when I seek last rather than first.

So I followed Dr. Akridge’s orders to “chill out” and spend a little time with God on the way to work. How different everything seems when I talk with Him rather than talking to myself.