A time of Celebration

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17

We teach 3rd grade Sunday school at church. This is our first year to do so. It has been fun and we have a good group of kids. Sunday we talked about the birth of Jesus (duh) and how it was a time for celebration and the Wise Men came seeking this baby to bring him gifts to show their love and respect for the awesome thing that God had done. It was a good reminder that Jesus is truly the reason for the season. Although cliche, it is so true, and important to remember that our real holiday lies in knowing Jesus and knowing the great miracle God gave us in the form of the baby.

We have been busy busy the last few weeks. I can't believe that Christmas day is already on FRIDAY! It is really crazy how time flies by. I remember being younger and thinking time practically stood still at the holidays, but not now...its hard to even catch a breath and take in the days for them passing so quickly. I certainly feel like I have much to celebrate this year. God has been good and to Him I give thanks. Jeffery and I will celebrate our 3 year anniversary next week, this for which I am most thankful. He is a good man, a wonderful husband, and I am so excited to watch him become a daddy so very soon. We are looking forward to celebrating the birthday of Emily in just a few more weeks. I am 33 weeks today, so technically 7 more makes 40, but time will tell when she decides to enter our world. I am filled with excitement, some nervousness (I guess and hope thats only natural), and joy in knowing that she will be here soon.

I wish you a Merry Merry Christmas and hope that you will remember to celebrate and give thanks to God for his greatest gift and do all things with a thankful spirit.

Post Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. It is always fun to have family and friends close by and to just have some chill time. We are thankful for so many things and the holiday season always helps to bring things into perspective.  Me and the boys (Jeffery, Bryon, & Allen) went to the shooting range Saturday. It was fun to shoot since I haven't been as regular as I was back in the spring. I still did pretty good...for a pregnant woman. After Emily comes I will have to get back at the practice! Saturday we went to watch Baylor play Tech at the new Texas Stadium. Very cool and a very good game too. I was proud of the Baylor Bears. 

29 Weeks and Pre-Thanksgiving Pics

Our Pecan trees have been and are continuing to produce really good pecans so far this year.  We have already filled up the entire wheelbarrow and many buckets. We're thankful for our little helpers from across the street (our nephews Logan & Coen) who come over often to help us pick up pecans. They really love it when Uncle Jeffery shakes the limbs and it rains pecans! Needless to say, we have alot of cracking and shelling to do!

We have done a lot of baking this week for various things. Our Sunday School bake sale fundraiser was a big success and these are the goodies we prepared for that, minus the carrot cake which was in the fridge...

I am now 29 weeks and it shows!! Pregnancy is fun, Emily moves a lot, its really fun to look down and see it now when she kicks, rolls, and punches. We can't wait to see her cute little face!

With family and good friends in town for Thanksgiving, my dad hosted a bonfire Wednesday night. We had fun roasting hot dogs, eating good chili, making smores, and catching up with people. 

Have fun with your families and friends on this Thanksgiving Day. God is good, remember to give Him the thanks for the good things he has done and is doing. 

We Give Thanks...

We give You thanks, and praise Your glorious name. 1 Chronicles 29:13

This Thanksgiving season in particular, I feel very thankful. Thankful for the blessing growing in me and the joys that will come with motherhood in just a short time (less than 80 days now). Thankful for the wonderful family that we have and for the ways that we are challenged and blessed by them daily. Thankful for my wonderful husband, for his constant support and love for me, and for his excitement about becoming a dad. Thankful for our church and the opportunities that we have to serve. Thankful for new friends. Thankful for the reason we celebrate these holidays...Jesus, and His wonderful love for us, even as undeserving as we are. 

We have a fun-filled full week ahead. My sister will be in tomorrow...for the whole week!!! I am super excited about that. My brother and brother-in-law will be in Wednesday. We will all 7 be together Thursday for a great Thanksgiving day. It will be smaller than usual, but I am looking forward to it. We will be doing lots of baking and cooking this week. Our Sunday School class is hosting a 'bake sale' to raise funds for some needy families in the area. It is Tuesday at Herschel's Restaurant if you have time to stop by and support. We have been working on our baked goodies already! 

I remember back around weeks 15-16ish of this pregnancy thinking it was creeping by and February would never get here. Well, now I look back and I really am surprised at how quick time has gone by. I will be 29 weeks on Tuesday...wow. I am definitely growing, seems like by the day, and I feel very pregnant! I feel good though, no complaints. I haven't swollen (yet anyway), haven't had anymore nausea, haven't had high blood pressure, or any of the other bad symptoms of pregnancy. Now, who knows what could come, but I feel very blessed and good at the present. God is good, His love and grace amazes me...

If I don't post again before the big T-Day...Happy Thanksgiving to You and yours. May you really take time to consider all the ways you are blessed and all the things you have to be thankful for. And mostly, I hope and pray that you will experience the love and comfort throughout this holiday season of our great and mighty God. He is the creator of all, He is the sustainer of all, He is the Redeemer God.

The Early Bird Gets the Worm!

This has been Jeffery's motto for the past couple of weeks.  I have been a little out of touch to blog world lately...we have been busy.  J is staying busy at work, which is good and always a blessing.  Someone or something has lit a fire under him and he is even more motivated than usual to prosper and do good things at work. He has challenged his office employees to be at work every day at 7:50 for a morning round-up 'pow wow.  He is usually there before then anyway but just being extra careful to get up on time and get out the door. It has been good for me too (some mornings) to get on up and get ready to go to work myself.  I am thankful for his motivation and his desire to be the best and most efficient leader that he can be.  

He had 3 outside salespersons in town Sunday and Monday for some training and meetings for new stuff at Diamond C.  We enjoyed hosting them and we cooked a yummy southern meal Monday night for 12 people in all. Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes and gravy, Homemade Mac and Cheese, Salad, and Rolls with Apple Pie and a Brownie Turtle Trifle for dessert. Lots of food, but lots of fun to have a good home cooking rather than going out. I had good intentions to take pictures of our prepared dishes, just didn't get to it. Just imagine for me... :)

                             

So as for me and baby, we are doing good. Growing and moving alot. By the way, our little girl's name is Emily Beth Crabb. Emily for J's granny and Beth after my middle name. She is active, mostly in the evenings when I am being still. I still think that feeling her moving around in me is just about the coolest thing ever though. I feel so blessed and even more excited as the days pass. We are almost into the 7th month now and have just 98 days to go until due date. Very exciting!!  I am steady growing and there is definitely no denying that I'm pregnant. Tomorrow morning I have an appointment to do my glucose tolerance testing at Dr. Moore's. I have the red sugar drink to drink in the morning then will have my blood tested at about 9:00. Im hoping it is within normal range! I will make it my best effort to post some pictures soon of my belly and other interesting things from our lives!!

**Just as a side note, I am thankful and think we should all say a great thankful prayer to our good God for the positive outcome of our local elections today in MP for the alcohol propositions. Since we live out of the city limits, we were unable to vote in those elections. I was thankful to see that the proposition didn't only fail, but was pretty much defeated. 

Have a wonderful week.

Make Room for Baby

Yes, we still have 18 weeks until due date, but since we have already purchased baby's crib, it is set up and in waiting. We found the crib in Dallas at BabyWorld (great store with great selection). We thought about the convertible bed which can become a day bed, then a twin, then even a full, but decided against it. This is just a standard crib but we love it. I have the furniture from my mom's room growing up that I am going to pair with the crib. We have work to do but still time! J did a great job getting the crib set up, he was as excited as me. As for the bedding, its on the bed too, in need of ironing and some additional add-ons for bows and what not, but its there. That is exciting too. We are having fun planning for our baby girl.

As the title says, we are making room for baby...especially me. For those of you who wanted belly pics, here you go. I am at 22 weeks now and feel like just over like the last 5 days, I've really started to look pregnant and not just chubby in the middle. I definitely don't feel very comfortable in my normal clothes and am thankful for the stretchy bands on maternity pants. I have always kinda dreaded wearing those, but they are actually quite surprisingly comfy.

I am feeling very blessed these days. I think I am constantly aware of God's blessings to me, but often lose sight and forget to be truly thankful. 1 John 3:1 says 'How great is the love that the Father has poured out on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!' How great is that promise, that we are His children and everyday He pours out His love to us. The baby moves around a lot in side of me, which is probably the coolest feeling I've ever had. It makes me so excited about seeing her and holding her sweet little hand. Thank you for praying for us and we look forward to rejoicing and thanking God for the little miracle to come in February. He is good and I wish you all a great day!

22 Weeks

Traveling with Goats and Lambs...

The Titus County Fair has come and gone for another year. Jeffery faithfully served again as the goat and lamb committee superintendent for the livestock shows and sale. It was a fun-filled, busy, dusty, dirty week complete with plenty of delicious fried fair foods and wayyy overpriced lemonade! There were 21 goats in the show this year and only 7 lambs. All of the kids did a good job. I enjoy being J's assistant and getting to interact with lots of super kids. Never would have thought that I would be right there lining up FFA kids with their respective animals and sending them into the show ring...but life is funny that way...and oh so good.

At the conclusion of the Livestock Auction and Sale Saturday there were 15 goats and 4 lambs that were to be 'bought back' or in other words, sold to a person who will essentially send them in the way of a slaughter house sooner rather than later. I know...kinda sad. Anyhow, these animals had to be delivered to Oklahoma on Sunday and J and I got to make the delivery. So Saturday night these lucky 19 animals spent the night in our driveway, in the trailer obviously, awaiting the trip to Oklahoma. They were actually pretty quiet through the night. Some folks told us that they would probably cry all night, but I didn't hear much of that. We felt kinda bad because the trailer was pretty yucky after several hours of confinement in a small space, but we really had no option until we were able to unload. We left Sunday after Sunday School and headed to the farm of a nice man named Tamen in Colbert, OK with the animals in tow. It was a fun weekend. The livestock end of the fair is always a lot of work but always fun and I enjoy helping J and helping the kids out.

      A shot looking into the trailer Saturday night
We made it! Goats thinking about making

     the leap into their new home...for a while anyway

        Happy goats to be out of the trailer!!

Have a wonderful week.