Baby Weber Updates – 9 Weeks
I am so excited to feel like I have a use for this blog again. After blogging 5 days per week for 2 years, and then going to one day a week, and then to once a month, this blog has been pretty neglected. I want to be able to use this blog to document memories and moments from this pregnancy so that one day I will have a record of it for my child to read (and for me to remember).
Once I start showing I will begin posting preggo pics, but for now, here’s some updates on what’s going on with Baby Weber AKA “Pumpkin” since he/she will be born in October.
Symptoms: Morning sickness, Fatigue
The Biggest News EVER!!!
For the last 3 years, my husband and I have battled through multiple miscarriages and a year-long inability to get pregnant after our last miscarriage. It’s been a brutal and beautiful season in our lives as the Lord has steadily worked to shape our hearts and keep our focus attuned to Him. While we have endured a long season of grief, we are now at the start of a new season….a season of great JOY and excitement!
“The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy!” Psalm 126:3
I AM PREGNANT!!! We went for our first ultrasound this morning and I’d like to introduce you to our precious child. Meet Malachi or Zoe. He/She will make his/her appearance on 10/10/10. I am a little over 8 weeks along.
There is certainly much significance to the names we have chosen. Over the last 3 years we’ve spent much time praying over the identity of our children and in giving them a name that they can purpose to live up to. So, without further ado:
Charles Malachi Weber: Charles is a family name on Hal’s side of the family (Hal’s first name is Charles). Malachi means messenger of God. Malachi was a prophet found in the Old Testament of the Bible. Malachi prophesized the need for people to turn back to the Lord. This was the last prophecy noted before the 400 years of silence between God and man.
Malachi 3:6-7, “I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty.”
Our prayer for Malachi is that he would purpose to live a life that proclaims the salvation of the Lord with his every breath. That he would not need “400 years of silence” to understand his need for a Savior and a relationship with his Father.
Zoe Melissa Weber: Zoe means life, Melissa is a play on my maternal grandmother’s name M’Liss.
In praying over the last 3 years, we have been asking for LIFE. Considering our struggles, this became a persistent word that infiltrated my thoughts…particularly in the days when I felt the Lord promising us a child… a new life. After this, one verse continued to come to mind.
John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
There were many times throughout this season that the enemy liked nothing more than to cause me pain, dread, and fear and to monopolize my thoughts in those areas. It became a constant battle to take captive my thoughts and place them back on Christ so that the enemy would have no room to “steal, kill, or destroy” me. That we are called to a life that is abundant in Him, regardless of our circumstances.
Our prayer for Zoe would be that she would understand her absolute value in the Lord, that she would believe in the Lord so fully that Satan would have no room to move within her life. That she would live a life that the enemy could not vanquish or destroy…by faith.
So there’s the big news I’ve been hinting at. We are overjoyed at the Lord’s faithfulness and His love for us in choosing us for this child being knit in my womb. I would ask for your continued prayers over us, particularly for protection for this child. We are declaring NO MORE MISCARRIAGES! Thank you, my sweet friends, for battling for us in pray for this child! We are thankful for this new season the Lord has drawn us into.
Teaser…
I know it’s been awhile. For the two of you still reading, thanks! I’ll have A LOT to blog about in the coming months. So, here’s a little teaser to entice you to check back with me next week and see what I’ll be blogging about!!!!
PSALM 126:3, “THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR US, AND WE ARE FILLED WITH JOY!”
Christmas 2009
Christmas is always such a special time for us. My reflections on Christmas seem to change each year depending on what has gone on that year. Since infertility has been such a large part of my life the last couple year, but more this year with the diagnosis, I spent a lot of time considering Mary. What must she have felt when she was told that she would give birth to the Son of God? How did she react the first time she felt Jesus kick? How did she feel about having to leave her family, midwife, and lady friends (that would help her with the birth) to make the journey to Bethlehem at 9 months pregnant? What was going through her mind when she considered the surroundings of the place in which she gave birth?
I reflected on what was common in the culture. Only men were required to go to their home cities to be registered, so why did Mary travel with him? Women from the area would come to act as attendants for Mary, along with the midwife to help prepare her for birth. What sense would it make for her to leave that comfort in order to have Joseph help deliver her? Perhaps Joseph didn’t want to leave her alone or was afraid he would miss the birth while he registered them. Men were not part of the birthing process, they were most often separated from their wives to wait until after the birth, so I imagine he was not very comfortable with the prospect of being solely responsible for the birth (not even considering what the angel had shared with them…just thinking as a human here).
Anyway, after dwelling for awhile on these things and reading the Bible for insight, my eyes fell upon a verse that hit me much harder than any other, “and Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart”. Mary had surrendered to this plan the Lord had for her, opened herself up to believing all that had been told to her, and watched as the miracle of God’s Son came to fruition through her womb. In holding her sweet baby Jesus, she treasured all she had been told and experienced deep within her heart and was blessed for her surrender.
This Christmas, I believe that is what the Lord wanted me to remember. To reflect on the heart of sacrifice that Mary kept. I am thankful for the example Mary provided of heartfelt faith and surrender. I pray that I would have a similar heart in the year to come.
Here are some pictures from our Christmas celebrations (we invited friends over for a Christmas party and then Christmas with both families):
Kyle and Amanda opening gag gifts
Hal received a High School Musical pillow and microphone pen for his gag gift….priceless!
Emily and Mary Catherine, the makeup queen
Charlotte’s holiday haircut
Hal with his Christmas loot
Me with mine
Charlotte hoarding hers
Christmas at my parent’s house
Me and mom with our babies…Cody and Charlotte
Me with one of my favorite main squeezes…Daddy!
Me and my favorite crazy cousin, Lauren and my aunt Lori
My twin brother Steven and his wife Kimberly…sweet, aren’t they?!
My little brother Chris being his usual weird self…after looking thru all my pictures I realized that I didn’t have a single picture of him smiling. Sad, very sad.
My nephew, Tyler, enjoying his gift from us…a bank that makes the sound of trains and lights up when he puts coins in it.
We had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior, the joy of family, and reflecting on 2009.
I’m Thankful For…
I feel like I have had so much to be thankful for this year. I have a beautiful family, a great home, a funny puppy, a phenomenal husband, a job I enjoy, etc. The Lord has been good to me. In that same spirit, Hal and I wanted to share Thanksgiving with some of the friends that have made Myrtle Beach feel like home for us. Honestly I believe that this is really the first time that Hal and I both have felt like we belonged. I grew up feeling very shy and isolated. My brothers inherited the extroverted, funny, and sarcastic genes. I was very much the introverted one. In Greenville, while I had come out of my shell tremendously, I never quite felt like I fit in. There were very few people that I would have considered real friends…
But since moving to Myrtle Beach, we feel like we have been welcomed with open arms and have made friends with people that I believe I will be friends with for the rest of my life. We are so thankful. We wanted to make sure that we showed them how much we love and appreciate their investment in our lives. So we hosted a Thanksgiving party here at our home. Hal fried his very first turkey, which was delicious! I made desserts, and all of our friends brought side dishes. There was much laughter, great conversation and warmth in our home. To our friends, we LOVE each and every one of you and thank God for you each day.
This is some of the group that graced us with their presence for Thanksgiving: (on couch: Rob and Brian, playing Wii: Mary Catherine and Emily, watching them: Chris and Peter, in the kitchen: Jenn, Amanda, Kyle, Hal, and me)
Yummy goodness…the fried turkey. What was hysterical was that Brian had never had a fried turkey and literally thanked God every time he took a bite (“Thank you Jesus, so good, thank you Jesus”). Haha.
The spread…sooo good.
The line for grub…mostly patient.
Yes, we have much to be thankful for….
Christmas Card Photos
Hal and I always have good intentions for doing something interesting for our Christmas card photos, and yet, every year it just doesn’t seem to happen. We wanted to make sure we actually did one this year since we have a new addition to our family. We did manage to take a few pictures around the house (more formal than we’d like), so we are going to have to go with one of those. We just never did get around to doing some fun, casual, interesting pics…life gets in the way, I’m sure you guys know how that is. Here are a couple of my favorites…ya’ll let me know which one you think we should go with. These haven’t been edited or anything yet.
Charlotte waiting patiently for Hal to set up the tripod. He kept getting distracted by saying, “Where’s Waldo?” I had to keep reminding him that Waldo’s shirt didn’t have a snowflake in the corner (look closely).
Our mantle (the middle one is Charlotte’s…we recycled Hal’s old one)
We were needing a momentary break from posing.
Our Christmas tree
A Dickens of a Christmas
I know, I know, bad blogger. For the two of you that still follow my blog here are a couple of updates.
A few weekends ago my mom and dad came to Myrtle Beach to participate in the Dickens’ Festival…essentially, a gift and craft show, for Bella Collina Jewelry. (In case you don’t remember, this is my mom’s jewelry business. She designs and handcrafts each and every piece using sterling silver, gemstones, and some glass and Swarovski). If you need a Christmas gift, go check out her website.
I digress, I helped my parents out in the evenings and the weekend since that was all the time I could spare from my real job with Chick-fil-A. I found it amusing that their booth ended up about two booth spaces down from the Chick-fil-A booth…we had a great time chit-chatting with Tony, the operator for the 13th Avenue Double Drive Thru location. He kept us entertained and fed…so THANKS!!!
Anyway, mom had a beautiful booth set up and great costumes for all of us…and apparently the show coordinators thought so too because they named Bella Collina the BEST COSTUME award winners. This allows my parents to come back to next year’s Dickens’ Festival for free. I am so proud of all of my mom’s hard work. And I have to admit that I had a great time getting dressed up for the event. I also have no idea how they did it. I was only there on Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday and Sunday, and my feet were killing me and I was exhausted! I really enjoyed spending some time with my parents, getting dressed up, and seeing mom’s excitement over people LOVING her jewelry. Here are some pics of the event:
The thorn between two roses
Yours truly
The Bella Collina booth
Infertility
Infertility SUCKS! Sorry, there is really no nice way to put it. I feel as though I am going to have empty arms forever. Thankfully, I am confident that the Lord will not allow our arms to remain empty, and that the longing of our hearts for children will be fulfilled.
Within the last month Hal and I had infertility tests done. The results came back pretty negative. Without getting into the medical mumbo jumbo (or revealing more than I am comfortable with), I have an ovarian hormone reversal which essentially will keep me from getting or staying pregnant. Hence, the many miscarriages we’ve experienced. My body does not believe that it is pregnant and therefore terminates the pregnancy. Hal has some issues as well which only complicates matters. I cannot tell you how heart broken I was at this news. In my desire to find out what our issues were, I almost wish we hadn’t found out.
However, my God is not surprised by this news. He has us on this journey to produce something new in us, a renewed and strengthened faith, joyful hope, anticipation, and finding joy amidst the mountains we face. That’s not saying that Hal and I haven’t been mourning and grieving this loss, but we also believe that there will be a time for us to dance (see Ecclesiastes). I am also comforted to know that there are groups of people interceding on our behalf, and there is nothing more precious than that.
We’ve been referred to Southeastern Fertility for additional testing and to discover what our options may be. Although our current doctor believes that our most likely option is adoption. While we continue to pray that the Lord would allow us to conceive and birth a child of our own, we are asking the Lord to prepare us for a child of our hearts (especially if we can’t have a child of our bodies). The song, “red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world” has been playing in my head for the last couple days….there’s likely a reason for that. Would you pray alongside us that the Lord would fill our arms with the child he has prepared for us…whomever they are and wherever they may come from? Would you also commit to praying for the healing of our hearts? That the mountain we face would begin to shrink with the power of our Mighty God? Would you pray that we would remember that God is not limited by our physical infirmities, that He is not surprised by our infertility? Would you pray that we would remember that He LOVES us and is FOR us?
New Addition to the Weber Family
We have finally added to the Weber family….meet Charlotte.
She’s a 6 week old Cockapoo (1/2 cocker spaniel, 1/2 poodle). She is delightfully funny, has a quirky personality, loves to snuggle and run, likes to chew Hal’s old flip flops, runs to the door when she needs to potty (YAY!!!!), and has captured our hearts.
Hal and I both have needed something to nurture, to care for, to focus on, and to love while we are in waiting to be blessed with a child of our own. We had felt so frustrated and disappointed with our infertility that we had begun focusing all our attention on that. Which, as anyone who has been through this, knows that it can completely ruin your life if that’s all you focus on. So, we knew we needed to make a change….thus, the inclusion of Charlotte in our little family.
Me and my girl! Please ignore the randomness of my appearance…I had been wearing a dress with that jewelry and Charlotte was chewing the dress to pieces so I had to change…then she went after my hair.
Hal loves his girl
She loves playing in the grass…and eating the crabgrass.
More pics on Facebook. We love her so much already….even when she accidently potties on the floor cause Mom and Dad aren’t paying enough attention to her signals. We’re so blessed to have her….she loves guests, so be sure to visit!!!
Hal’s 29th!
Shocking I know…two posts in one day! This weekend I had the honor of celebrating with Hal for his 29th birthday!!! We kept it low key since it had been a nutso week, but we had a great time. To kick things off this year, I planned and saved for weeks to get his gifts, and I got them….2 months early. So I have been torturing him for the last 8 weeks with these wrapped gifts that he had to wait to open till his birthday. Ain’t marriage grand?!
We kicked off the day by eating leftover Chinese for lunch after church…exciting, right?! All I can say is….budget, budget, budget. But I did let Hal go ahead and open his presents after lunch. I figured I had tortured him enough.
I think he was a little excited.
It’s a router…from what he explained it finishes edge and plunges holes (it’s some dual deal….thank you Lowe’s team member for the help!).
The big box which kept him very perplexed.
It’s a tablesaw….now he can cut things….like wood.
I think he’s trying to figure out how to use these tools to build a Jeep…I think he has a long way to go.
That night we went to Travinia for dinner…great Italian food and nice ambiance. After taking our sweet time, we headed over to B & N to buy a puppy book so we’re prepared for Charlotte (see previous post). I’m now well-read on crate training, potty training, and leash training…let’s hope these book smarts translate in real life.
And finally, for his birthday cake. Hal loves cheesecake, I mean loves cheesecake. So, I decided to forego the typical birthday cake and make him a cheesecake. Only there’s one problem….I have never made a cheesecake, ever. After looking at several recipes I settled on a New York style with a shortbread crust. Many hours later, it tasted good, but it had some major cracks on the top. Oh well. Hal was happy, so I was too.
Hal, I love you more than life. I am so proud to be your wife. I hope you had a great birthday, now you can take your presents to the garage and play. (I rhymed, you should be so proud.)
