Waiting.....

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
We are waiting on Karsyn Jo to make her arrival.
When you are in a waiting period the days seem to be so long and go by so slow. Everyday asking yourself "could today be the day?" 
We are so ready to see what our little girl looks like, does she look like daddy? does she look like mommy? We are so ready to hold her, cuddle her, hear her cry and see her smile for the first time. My house is cleaned, the clothes are washed, Karsyn's room is ready, and we have all the essentials we need expect that sweet blessing that God has so graciously blessed us with!

"But if we look forward to something we don't yet have, we must wait patiently. " 

Romans 8:25 NLT

Recent belly pictures

We had a baby shower on May 11th! Our family got to come into town for the shower, so that was such a blessing! Karsyn got lots of good stuff and lots of clothes, which are an essential to every girls closest! The ladies that put the shower on for me and little miss have been incredible woman in my life!

Best friends! These lovely ladies were even bridesmaids in my wedding and now Karsyn's "aunt!"

Family! My grandma and mom on the left. There are 4 generations in that picture! So neat and I can't wait for Karsyn to meet my grandma and her grandma. The Stanley family in the right photo. They are WONDERFUL in-laws! 

I used to babysit the girl in the right photo, Tyler, and now she is old enough to babysit my baby! 

These 7th grade athletic Grape Creek girls threw me a mini shower! They are such a blessing and I hate to not be coaching them next year! They brought gifts, a cake, and a balloon! It made my heart full!

Here's pictures of our sweet Karsyn's room! Hurry up baby girl, mommy and daddy are anxiously awaiting to meet you! 

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

James 1:17

Karsyn Stanley

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart."

Jeremiah 1:5

That "you" is ME. He knew me before he formed me in the womb, just like he knows Karsyn now. Wow! And not only did he know me, he called me and set me apart. Wow again! I pray that he calls Karsyn to himself, just like he has called her mommy and daddy. I pray that in our home we would create an environment that glorifies God and that we would allow God to do the work. I am awestruck that God has called us to come along side him with what he is already doing in her precious life. 

Only 5.5 weeks left until Karsyn's due date.... Yikes! We are so ready to meet her, but feel like we have so much left to do to prepare for her arrival. I want it to go fast, but slow all at the same time. I became really uncomfortable about a week ago, especially while sleeping. Only sleeping 3 or 4 hours at a time.... I know this will continue for the next several months. And oh what a blessing no sleep is -- this means Karsyn is soon to make her appearance! 

3D sonogram at 28 weeks.

In March, I was in Dondi's wedding, a best friend from high school. I have so many good memories with Dondi and the red blazer! We popped all 4 tires on her blazer in only a few hours, riding 4-wheelers, 6 flags trip, playing cops and robbers -- life was fun and easy! I was 6 months pregnant so wearing heels and fitting into my dress was definitely a challenge. But I am so thankful that Dondi allowed me to be apart of her big day! 

On May 5th, Presley celebrated his 5th birthday! He has been my "baby" for so long! It will be a dramatic change for him once baby Karsyn arrives. 

We had maternity pictures taken by Kensie Lee Photography. I would recommend her to anyone that has big life event! Here is a preview of some pics:

Baby Stanley

Life has been busy, but good.
Some weeks I feel like all I can do is just enough to stay afloat. Therefore the things I want to do (update blog) get pushed to the side for the things that NEED to be done.

In October I updated our blog with the news that we were pregnant! It has been a journey, but an exciting one! The first trimester was rough with morning sickness, but after about 13 weeks that subsided and I regained some energy! We have hit some small bumps in the second trimester like sciatic nerve pain, migraines, and sinus infections, but each time I feel that precious girl kick or see her face on the sonogram it makes it all worth while!

At 23 weeks! We already love her so much! Only 17 more weeks until we meet her! 

So here's some pictures of the growing belly! 14 weeks, right at the end of the first trimester and baby Stanley was only the size of a lemon. 22 weeks, weighing over 1 pound now; growing and kicking so much. Its crazy that God created a woman's body to do this!

On January 25th we had a gender reveal party! We had a sonogram the Wednesday before the party, but did not find out the sex of the baby. We took an envelope that revealed the gender to a friend and she cut holes in the color of balloons that were not the gender. So that only 1 color of balloons would blow up, either blue or pink to reveal the gender! We were so excited to find out if it was a he or she, so we could stop saying "it"! Our guest wore pink if they thought it was a girl and blue for a boy. I thought boy and Matt wore pink! My brother (hoping for a nephew) came in for the party, it was great to have him in angelo for a weekend! 

Matt and Kailee were right, IT'S A GIRL! 

As I think and pray through pregnancy and our baby girls development, I think about how in a short 17 weeks we will become responsible for another life. Wow, thats a big deal! And I know that its only by God's hand that we will even be able to do this daily. I think about things I want teach her like how to walk, how to use the big potty, bible stories, how to read and write, how to play volleyball, different scriptures, about serving others, how to cook, and etc. All great things, but more than all of that I want to teach her about our Lord, not just how to be a fan, but to whole heartedly/daily surrender and follow hard after her Lord! That she would claim him as her Lord! I pray that she would learn these things, not only by my words, but by the way I lived. 

HUGE responsibility.

Prepare me now, Lord. 

One last thing.... this wonderful husband of mine turned 30 on Feb 4th! Can't wait to see him as a father to our daughter! :) When we first got married in 2010, I thought how could I  love this man any more, but I was wrong. I love him SO MUCH MORE today than I did then! Thankful that God has allowed me to share life with him! 

Blessed

"From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another."

John 1:16

At the beginning of this year I decided to start a little journal of things I am thankful for. My plan was to write one per day so that at the end of the year I would have 365 things I am thankful for. This made me very aware of the many blessings that I daily receive! Simple things like a warm bath and a heater -- that I easily take for granted daily. And things like the Lord's faithfulness, how he constantly draws me to himself, and my husband who loves me daily despite my womanly emotions. Just like many other things in my life, after 4 months of doing my thankful journal I stopped doing it. Back in August, when things weren't going just like "I had planned", I started writing in my thankful journal again. When I was more aware of the many blessings I daily received, I had more of an attitude of gratefulness, which over time filled me with peace. A peace that surpassed all understanding. 

This peace became something I held onto as Matt and I waited month after month to find out we were not pregnant again.... but....

In October, we were blessed with the blessing of all blessings.... A BABY!! Due in June 2013!! 

                        6 week sonogram 10/24/12                                              10 weeks 11/21/12

 Sore hips became a blessing! Nausea and throwing up (which was a 24 hour thing; not sure who named it "morning" sickness) became a blessing! Headaches became a blessing! We told our families about 3 or 4 weeks ago and they were so excited! Here is a video of how we told Matt's family. We told my family over the phone since they don't live here.

These are the signs we put on the dogs to reveal the news to our family! It says "the family I love and protect is growing by one heartbeat!"

The first pair of shoes baby Stanley got from our friends, the Chesshire's! Fits us perfectly! 

 

We are so excited!! Praise Jesus from who all blessing come! And so our journey begins.....

July and August

Its been awhile since I updated our blog....
Life has not slowed down for us at all and it just got busier as I took a teaching/coaching position at Grape Creek. School started on August 27. I. am. not. ready. for. this. I will be teaching elementary PE and coaching all Jr. High Sports. The best part of this job is being able to LOVE on some kids. Thats the whole reason I got into education. I'm ready to love! I'm ready to get to know these kids! Not ready for long hours, waking up early, school extras like planning, attendance, and meetings.

We had a really fun summer and I am so glad we did as it may be awhile before we can take vacation again! At the beginning of July we took a trip to the Guadalupe River in New Branfuels with Kailee and Jakody. We crammed so much into a quick weekend trip. Floated the river and went to Sea World.

JKLM!!!

Sea World here we come! And we were excited!

After sea world, it started a quest for the all the facts we could find about whales. It truly is amazing the the animals God created in their hugeness. Here is one interesting fact: a whale's heart is the size of a small car. Shamu at Sea World is an orca whale and he weighs 7 tons, thats huge. But to make it even more mind blowing a blue whale, the largest whale ever, weighs 200 tons. Wow. God spoke and that HUGE animal came to be. Our God is BIG. 

VEGAS!! With the Chesshire's!! We stayed at The Mirage and it was SO nice! We were there for 3 whole days and it wasn't enough time to see everything. I would definitely like to go back someday! 

Day 1: we spent some time at the pool and went to a Beatles play called Love. 

Day 2: Walked around the strip looking at the different hotels and shopping. That night we saw Carrot Top at the Luxor hotel. 

Day 3: More chill time at the pool, some more sight-seeing, and we went down to Freemont. 

Right when we got back from Vegas, Matt and I repacked our bags cause the next day we were driving to Houston for Reagan's birthday and some family time. We both had a week off from work and it was so nice. We LOVE to travel! 

In August, we went to three weddings! Weddings are so fun to me! And each wedding I go to reminds me of our wedding and why I married Matt! 

Friends from college and we were all together in the same place! Love times like this! 

God has been teaching us a lot about waiting patiently....... Waiting.... Patiently.... without questioning or doubting, and trusting..... It's hard.... But each day we are reminded of God's sovereign will for our life and that his will is good, pleasing, and perfect. (Romans 12:2) "We were given this hope when we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." (Romans 8:24-25)