Great Week

We've had a very busy week! Its been a lot of fun too. Monday we went and ate dinner at my Mom's with my Grandpa & Marge. Josh and I spent Monday night there and had a great day with them on Tuesday. I love watching Josh and my grandpa talk...they get along so well. They talk about how stuff works and building things all the time...its funny. Tuesday night we decided they needed the experience of La Unica, our favorite Mexican restaurant. I was a little nervous, as they are used to Tex-mex, a different kind of Mexican food in Texas. They seemed to enjoy it though! After dinner, we came to our house and visited for awhile. It was neat seeing them in our environment. We really enjoyed it and didn't want it to end. While they were in town they Lavished Thumper with tons of presents!! It was almost like a mini baby shower!

Wednesday mom and I met up to go pick up her friend from the airport. We stopped at Baby's R Us on the way and spent about an hour there! Then we picked her friend up and went and ate at Carraba's! Yum! It was so good. From there we went our separate ways, but not before Nancy, mom's friend could give Thumper a gift. She's a long time Longhorn and gave us 2 cute little onesies and two pacifiers. My favorite paci says, "I'm new." I think its too cute!

Yesterday was a day I had been waiting for. We had a dentist appointment, and while, I love our dentist, that isn't why I was so excited. Our dentist is near Concord Mills, so we went to Build-A-Bear. I wanted to build something for Thumper. We built a rabbit, named Thumper and really had a good time. We only bought a $2 pacifier, so it didn't cost much at all! We both enjoyed it and loved bringing Thumber home to meet Asher...he kept kissing the bunny...it was adorable! Last night we had dinner with my cousin, Keenan and his girlfriend, at La Unica, YES again! I love that place! We all had fun.

Wonderful Neighbors

Well, to sum things up, we've been so busy lately. Josh is making last minute preparations for his trip. Graybrooke business is doing so well, Josh can hardly keep up, which is such a blessing! I am doing my best to get to work and complete my school assignments on time. I haven't been feeling good at all and if I do feel okay, I haven't done much house work. My goals have been to try to keep the dishes done and to do the laundry every week. Needless to say, the house has been neglected in a big way. Well, Easter Sunday, Josh went to go visit family in Kernersville and I had to work. I called my friend/neighbor, Denise, to check on a friend of hers who was in the hospital. She asked how I was and I spilled my guts. I told her I was overwhelmed, I had a 5 page paper due Wednesday, my grandpa was in town from Texas and my house was a wreck. I was worried about getting the house clean and paper done before Grandpa and Marge come to visit. She asked what she could do to help, and I replied nothing. Well, that was that...or so I thought. I came home and Josh was still visiting family. I just sat in the car, I didn't want to come inside. I didn't know where to begin when I came home. Then I finally mustered up enough courage to come inside and didn't recognize my house! The floors were swept, the two bags of trash were gone, the junk was off the table and sat neatly on the floor, they had dusted, made the bed, and vacuumed to name a few things. I just spun around in circles looking at what had been done. I was kind of embarrassed to think they saw my house at the worst ever. Here are some pictures. I'm glad I don't have any before pictures, but just imagine dishes and junk everywhere! Josh and I are so thankful and grateful for such wonderful friends who help out without being asked. Something that may seem simple, like cleaning the house, was such a huge blessing to us. I finished my paper, and we spent some great time with my family and they got to see our house...clean...thanks to the Giambrones!

FAQ 2 - Why Do You Ask Us For Money? Shouldn't You Spend Your Own Money For The Trip?

This is a question that has been asked, both directly & indirectly, since we've been raising support for the Liberia Mission trip. Since there are many different people getting our newsletters and following our blog, some who belong to the Christian faith and others who do not, I will attempt to answer this honest question respectfully and to the best of my ability. If there is somewhere in the post when I am not clear, or there is a part that you take issue with, please bring it to my attention so I may correct the oversight.

As a Christian, we have only one identity: Christ. Jesus set the example as He drew no boundaries between Himself and those to whom He chose to minister.⁽¹⁾

I liked the wording from that source, so I kept it in it's entirety. Basically, Jesus is the example for those who are of the Christian faith. When in doubt, look and see how Christ handled things. Christ told his disciples (those who followed Him) that they were to go into "the uttermost parts of the world."⁽²⁾
Without making this too long-winded, I'll summarize to say that those who follow Christ are to be involved in missions.

But how many of us can realistically take 2 weeks, or a month, or a year or more off of work and do missional work? Not all of us can. I know it has even become difficult for me to get away from work, and I own my own company! However, in Corinthians, the body of believers that are called Christianity are described as having different roles, just as a body has different parts that has specific roles.⁽³⁾ Even though we are supposed to be involved with missions, not all of us will actively serve; but we can all still be a part of missions by partnering with others who are willing to sacrifice on the mission field. Many of us will do this by coming alongside those who do physically serve, making their stint financially possible. Many will also be partners of encouragement & prayer to the individual. In most cases it's not easy for missionaries to leave the life of comfort & stability, and leave family behind; encouragement from friends can make all the difference in the world. There are other ways to partner too, like donating tools, equipment, buying food/clothes, etc.

There are some folks who can outright afford to fund their own mission trip in it's entirety. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but it does take away the ability to have others individuals serve through the said individual, since there can be no partnership (at least, financially). There is something humbling that happens when people are forced to rely on God and others to supply their financial means. For me personally, it has been an eye-opening experience. Generally, those who are wealthy make little or no contribution; those who struggle from bill-to-bill generally make the greatest contributions. Sounds crazy huh? But it's been true for us.

Being dependent on contributions from someone with little-to-no income is a humbling thing, and it puts a new burden of responsibility on those serving (in a good way). I have shed tears for the contributions that have been made towards this trip. It also gives an opportunity for G-d to show up and give confirmation to the trip; if there are no funds, it's probably a good sign that G-d is saying to "wait".

If you are someone who still questions giving to a cause like this, then please find somewhere else to contribute. We are all at different places in this journey, and some are simply not on the journey at all. That's okay. I just ask that you be sensitive to how your heart is being led, then be obedient.

For those who do contribute in some form, thank you for the bottom of my heart. You'll probably never know how much it means to me personally, that you would entrust me to serve on your behalf. I pray that every moment I am serving on your/our behalf is time well spent.

Even if you don't agree with giving to missions and/or missionaries, at least maybe you now understand why people do ask.




References:
(1) http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:ByCakIV0CZMJ:www.cedarrockbaptist.com/sermons/060910%2520The%2520Biblical%2520Mandate%2520for%2520Missions.pdf+missions+biblical+mandate&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
(2) http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%201:8;&version=51;
(3) http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2012:12-31;&version=51;

Exciting Monday

Well, Monday was a very exciting day. We hung out around the house together and took a walk around the neighborhood with our neighbor, Denise. Denise gave Thumper a present. Its a "My first tools," complete with tool box, hammer, and screwdriver! If Thumper is a boy or a girl, we still want him/her to be able to fix things and use tools, even if it is just to hang curtains! ;) I've refrained from buying much stuff, as sometimes I think its not real still. I did buy Thumper his/her first book about a week ago. Its called, "God Gave Us You." Its a cute book about a mommy polar bear telling her baby polar bear a bedtime story about how they became a family. Its very sweet and cute! Also, I brought some old books of mine home from Nonna's (my mom) house. The list includes: "Goodnight Moon," "The Giving Tree," "There's a Monster at the End of This Book," "Corduroy," and "What God did for Zeke, the Fuzzy Catepillar."

Monday afternoon, we had another OB appt. We got to hear the heartbeat!!! It was such a sweet and exciting sound! I didn't know how important it would be for me to hear it! In addition, the nurse had a hard time finding it and we kept hearing this "swooshing" noise. She said that was the baby moving around. So, not only does Thumper have a strong healthy heartbeat, but he/she is moving all over the place....sounds like Thumper has Daddy's energy! The doctor felt my belly and said, "She's so petite, you can't even tell she's pregnant," then he told Josh to keep telling me that. I can notice a little difference in my belly, and a few other family members have noticed too, but it isn't very noticable yet. We haven't started taking belly pics yet, we've been talking about it for weeks, but haven't gotten around to it. I'm sure I'll regret it, but oh well!

On another note, Josh has raised almost enough money to go to Liberia! He's began looking at flights and is finalizing the final details of his trip. He's planning on going about 2.5-3 weeks. Its still bittersweet for me to talk about and I get teary eyed often. I'm so excited he is going, but I'm going to miss him like crazy! He's promised to try to find a little baby outfit or something bold and bright the baby could wear to bring back for Thumper. He's also agreed to let us go to Build-A-Bear and build a rabbit for Thumper. It will be a small stuffed animal we "made" for our baby. We're going to name it Thumper and I'll sleep with it while Josh is gone. That way it will smell like me and hopefully bring comfort to Thumper when he is born, if we aren't together!

Update...Big News and Africa

Well, we hid some great news for about 6 weeks. Most of you probably know by now, but Josh and I are going to have a baby! I'm 12 weeks pregnant today! I am due September 22! It has been an exciting 3 months, full of nausea, lots of emotions (a lot of tears for no reason), and lots of extra sleep! I have began to feel better within the last week. I'm close to the 2nd trimester and it is making a big difference. We have really enjoyed sharing this news with family and close friends. We have enjoyed all the responses, but noticed 2 things. After everyone congratulates us and asks all the questions about the due date and how I've been feeling, they always have one of two questions. One is, I thought you guys were pursuing adoption. Well, we still plan to adopt, but it will be after our first child is born! It is something we are still very passionate and excited about! We look forward to how our family is going to grow not only through the child we are expecting now, but through adoption of one or more children in the future!

The other popular question, if you haven't figured out and asked already, is about Liberia. It is with mixed feelings that I must announce, I won't be going this trip. I'm really excited about being a mom and want to protect my unborn child from everything I can. I wish that I could go, as I had began to get really excited about the trip. However, I must tell you, back in November, I wasn't so sure if I was supposed to go or not. I prayed and asked God to give me a definitive answer. I prayed, "Lord, if I'm not supposed to go, let us only raise enough money for one of us to go AND let me be pregnant." That way it would be easy for me to know and understand that I'm not meant to go. Well, He has answered that prayer! Part of me still wishes I could go, but then the mommy brain kicks in and I'm okay with staying home. If I were to travel to Africa, I'd have to get several vaccinations, including the Yellow Fever one. It is a Class C drug during pregnancy. When we asked my doctor about whether or not I could/should go to Africa, he responded, "Well, I've never had anyone ask me that before." The shot as well as meds for Malaria are class C and while there isn't a proven harm, it isn't for certain safe. He said it would be a decision I'd have to make. We decided that since it is an avoidable risk, we wouldn't take it. Then I asked him if it would be okay for me to travel to the mountains (I'll be 35 weeks then and travel isn't always advised) in August for Camp Horizon (the camp for kids with Down Syndrome). He said as long as things remained perfect and healthy he didn't seem to have a problem with it. He then said, "Y'all seem to have some pretty cool interests." This made us happy!! We scheduled our next appointment for March 23 and at that appointment we'll schedule the next ultrasound.

We did have an ultrasound on February 5th. I was only 7.5 weeks then, but they needed to verify my due date. At that ultrasound all we saw was a little tiny bean and a strong heartbeat! It was 154, which is excellent. We have nicknamed our baby Thumper, since the heartbeat was thumping. We hope to wait until delivery to find out what the gender is and didn't want to call Thumper "it" until then. :)