The Past 8 Months...

For the most part, my pregnancy has been quite a breeze. I was only nauseated once or twice and didn't get sick at all. I've been able to continue my regular routine for the most part, with more rest of course. Our youth group has kept me busy and made sure that I have gotten plenty of exercise, with volleyball and frisbee at our weekly FUEL, AIM kids camp and a trip to UPLIFT at Harding as well. I was even able to photograph Burnt Hickory youth group's attempt at breaking a guinness book world record from an aerial view. Here are a few pics from the past 8 months.

Early in the year, we took the college age to Gulf Coast Getaway. Being in my first trimester, I think I slept half the time, and ate all the food we took, but they put up with me. It was bitter cold and raining much of the trip, but the last day we enjoyed some warmer sunshine on the beach before heading back home. It was a great trip of fun and spiritual renewal.

This is our mentoring group at East Cobb. This spring we tutored hispanic kids from our area on Thurs. afternoons. The taking of this picture was the only time they were still, so they kept us on our feet, but they were tons of fun!

This is my group of girls I chaperoned from our day at Centennial park. Most people had two kids, but since I represented two people, they figured I could handle more. They had a blast playing in the fountains. It was a hot day in June, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Our youth group did amazing volunteering with these inner city kids. I was so proud!

Rick's youth minister bud came up with this crazy idea of a fundraiser to break the guinness book world record for lining up pennies in a mile in the fastest time. They went all out, mapping out a course, getting sponsors and even had a logo painted on the front lawn. It was incredible to see these kids work together and although they didn't achieve the goal, they raised over $16,000 for families in Honduras. My small role in this was to photograph the event, from all angles, including 60 ft. above the ground!



UPLIFT camp at Harding was probably the most difficult trip for me. The 8 hours in the car nearly drove me insane! We walked all over campus, causing my feet to swell and we were going non stop from sun up to midnight. We took a great group of girls and they really had a good time.


We spent Mother's day in Americus to celebrate Mom's (Carol) retirement from teaching school. Laura Grace is always asleep in our family pictures. :)















Mom (Pam), Grandma Johnson and Aunt Barbara came for a visit in May. We took a trip to Callaway Gardens. We didn't see many flowers, but the butterfly conservatory was truly amazing.

Baby on the way!

We are expecting our first child! He, yes, it's a boy, is due Sept. 8. I've been meaning to update the blog all along, but it's just gone by so fast. It's definitely been the fastest 7 months of my life. The last two months of the pregnancy have and continue to go very slowly. Rick was out of town much of last month for youth trips that I was unable to go on. This past Tuesday, I was placed on bedrest because of concerns that I will deliver early, and we're trying to make sure he's completely developed before that happens.

It was a little shocking, because we thought we still had about a month, but we'll have to be ready any time now. We're working on small nursery projects when we get to them, but the priority at this point is doing as little as possible to not put any more pressure on the baby.

Rick has been the best! He's kept our house together while I've been just lying around. Our great church has been providing us with delicious meals-way better than what I'd be making. Keep us in your prayers as we wait on the arrival of our little boy!

Pics in the Square

So here are some pics we took before Christmas at the Marietta Square. We didn't realize that we scheduled our photo shoot the same night that Santa was coming to the square. We had to fight about 200 little kids for the park, but we had lots of fun anyway.
Thanks Julia, We loved the pics!