What a weekend we've had. Up and down and all over the place. Thanks to those of you that are praying for Mark and me. We so appreciate it.

Not much that's fit for blogging about right now, but I thought I'd share a few things ...

We got to see our niece Lindsey on Saturday.














She had a 3 hour layover at the Atlanta airport on her way home from New Orleans. No, she wasn't there for Mardi Gras. She and some students and profs from her school spent their winter break down there helping out Katrina victims. We were really excited to have a chance to visit with her. Let me give her a shout-out: Hey there, H-Kizzle!

My brother Marc spent the weekend with my mom and stepdad in South Carolina. They went to see my uncle Ron and aunt Elsie and help them with some projects on their house. My uncle Ron is having heart surgery and wanted to have some things done to the house to make it easier to get around and such while he's recovering.
While Marc was away for the weekend, his wife Tania told their daughter, Brenna, what was going on with them - that Daddy and she were separating and that he would be moving out. Brenna's only 6, so I'm not sure how much she really understood. I remember when my dad had the same talk with Marc and me when I was 7. All I really understood was that I had to choose a parent, and I chose Mom.
My mom tells me that Marc had a great weekend with them and that he really seems to be seeking God and is looking forward to going to counseling with her pastor, so I thought that was encouraging. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

Single Digit Panic

Last night I was lying on the couch watching the Olympics with Mark (we got an antenna for our tv so we could watch the games) and I just randomly asked, "What week am I in? How much longer do I have?" I quit counting the weeks around December and only occasionally think about it. Mark guessed around 10 weeks, and I got up and looked at the calendar to see if that was right. He was close. It's actually less than 10 weeks - it's 9 weeks and a few days until Gwennan is due.

I woke up at 2 AM and it hit me that we're really in countdown now. NINE WEEKS. We're in the single-digits now. I only have NINE WEEKS to get ready for Gwennan. NINE WEEKS until life as I know it is gone forever. I started to panic. I don't have a clue what I'm doing. What do I know about babies? NOTHING. Will I be happy, or miserable? Will Gwennan be easy or difficult?

I've already felt pretty crappy about my housewifing abilities this past week (since quitting Nissan). You would think I would be able to get a lot more done than I have. My house looks like a wreck, I suck at getting dinner together every night, things just aren't getting done. It's depressing.

So I feel a little panicky, a little overwhelmed. I'm scared to death, mainly.

Sweet Mark, he's the best husband in the world. I told him as we were lying in bed this morning about my 2 AM panic attack, and he rolled over to hold me and said, "We're in this together, okay?"

Prayer Request for my Brother

Well, it's finally happening. My brother and his wife are going their separate ways. I spoke to Marc yesterday, and he's such a hurting puppy. His plan right now is to quit his job and come live in Marietta with my mom and stepdad until he can get back on his feet. He really likes the company he's working for (a pest control company in Lawrenceville), but they're small, don't have any branches down here in Marietta, and he can't see doing that commute every day. (Can you blame him?) So he's basically forced to quit and find something down near us. He gave his two-weeks notice yesterday.
He had such hurt in his voice yesterday when he said to me, "I'm losing my wife, my child, and my job in two weeks."
Selfishly, the good news for us is that he will be nearer and we'll hopefully see him more often. But I don't know - Marc and I are extremely different and have never been close. I love him dearly, but having him nearby may not really change anything between us. All I know is that he's going through such a difficult time, and I want to be there for him as much as I can.

Marc will start going for counseling with my mom's pastor once he gets down here.
Please pray for him, Tania, and Brenna when you think about it.
Thanks!

Pregnancy is beautiful

So yesterday afternoon I went over to Dawn's, where she had set up her portrait studio, and we took maternity pictures. We had a lot of fun. We decided to do some that were kind of "artsy" (read: partially nude.) For those of you that this offends, I'm sorry. I grew up with two artists for parents and learned to appreciate the human body for its beauty, so it seemed natural to me. Plus, I don't think I've ever felt as beautiful as I feel being pregnant. I mean, yeah, I'm fatter, but I just feel so darn womanly.
Anyway, I'm posting two of the shots below. One is clothed, the other is partially nude, with strategically placed arms, so hopefully you won't see more of me than you'd see at the beach.

The family that yogas together, namastes together.

This past weekend I decided to do some yoga. I had ordered a prenatal yoga DVD that I thought would help me with my back and hip aches, and I hadn't tried it out yet. Catri was with us, and she often has back aches from doing gymnastics, so she wanted to try it too. She managed to talk Mark into trying it with us, so we pushed back the couch in the living room and the three of us did yoga together.
I wish so bad I had been able to get a picture of it because it was very funny, but there was no way Mark and Catri would have let me do that.
It was especially funny to watch Mark trying to contort his body into the yoga positions. Catri's pretty limber from gymnastics, so it wasn't too hard for her, and despite my being pregnant, I've done some yoga before, so I knew how to do the positions already. But Mark - he was twisting and bending all over the place and generally looked like a human knot. He didn't have that peaceful, relaxed look you generally expect from someone doing yoga.
Anyway, this was prenatal yoga. The video showed three women in various stages of pregnancy - first, second, and third trimesters. I followed the lady in the third trimester; Mark and Catri followed the lady in her first. The lady leading it kept referring to how this or that exercise would prepare you for labor or benefit the baby, which made Mark and Catri snicker.
When all three ladies sat on the floor to do Kegel exercises, Mark and Catri got confused looks on their faces because it didn't look like the women were actually doing anything. I fast-forwarded through that section.

Two reasons I wish we had cable ...

1. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show



















2. The Winter Olympics (which I love much more than the Summer Olympics)














Otherwise living without tv is fine with me.

Grumble, grumble, grumble ...

Dawn and Charles treated Mark and I to dinner at Houston's last night for my birthday.
Well, more accurately, it was Dawn's dad who treated us. He has this wonderful habit of sending them gift certificates to Houston's on a regular basis, and this is the second time Dawn and Charles have shared their good fortune with us.

We sat at a round table with these very chic black leather chairs (nothing but the chic-est stuff for Houston's.) Unfortunately, as chic as they were, they were horribly uncomfortable for a 7 month pregnant woman. I adjusted the best I could, but when I went to bed last night my hips were killing me and I basically tossed and turned in pain all night, never able to get comfortable, never able to fully get to sleep. I'm still in pain this morning and now I get to go to work and sit in the uncomfortable desk chair there.

The good news, though, is that this is my last week at work. I'm training another lady how to do the oh-so-complicated work that I do that takes up 6 hours out of my week and then I'm done!

This will allow me to focus more time & energy at home preparing for Gwennan and doing housewifing & home administrator stuff. (I like to call myself the home administrator, since I take care of our budget planning, paying the bills, dealing with insurance & utility companies, etc. It's amazing how much of one's time this actually takes up.) I'll also have more time to give to Grace Connections. I volunteered to do some administrative work for them a few months ago, but things have been coming up a lot lately to hinder me from actually doing much so far.

Oh, and Dawn & Charles gave me a great birthday gift: their old Nikon N80 camera, which they don't use much anymore since they've gone digital. It's actually just a loan, but my old Nikon 2020 has been dead since last summer and I haven't been able to do much creative photography since. I have my little Sony digital point-and-shoot camera, but it's so limited and actually a big pain in the butt to use. I could never do anything truly creative with it. So I'm excited to start shooting again.

I want to shoot the whole day down

I don't like Mondays.
Most people say that because they don't like to get up and go to work. I say that because I stay at home and my husband gets up and goes to work. I immediately feel lonely when he leaves. It usually takes a while for me to get going. I wander around the house, surf the internet, and try to figure out what to do with myself before I get bored and depressed.
I guess mainly I just need more structure to my Mondays. I need a plan. An agenda.
Of course in a few months, I'll be busy taking care of Gwennan on Mondays. Hopefully that will make them a little less lonely.

Prayer Request

I really think my brother Marc's marriage is coming to an end. His wife has basically checked out of the relationship, only she doesn't have the guts to admit it and just ask Marc to leave. She says things like, "I just don't want you to touch me and I don't want to be around you," like that's a minor thing to say. I think she's just waiting it out, waiting for him to get miserable enough to leave so she can say, "Well you're the one who left," which may benefit her in a child custody/support dispute, I don't know. (Marc and Tania have a 6-year-old little girl, Brenna.)
Marc is really devastated and depressed and calls my mom when he's at work and cries (literally) on the phone to her about the situation. He loves Tania, but the obvious fact of the matter is that she doesn't love him. He's given her all of himself and she's just rejecting it outright.
Please, please, if you remember, just pray for him and the whole situation.