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Hey dudes.

Where ya been?

Oh, right...it's me who's been MIA.  Well dearies, I have been down south enjoying some lovely time off with the fams.  I had 6 blissful days straight of no work.  We did part with my family and part with Jason's family...and guess what?!?  We did not take a SINGLE picture.  Nada.  Nothing.  Not one.  Meh.  Whatev.

Christmas was wonderful and tiring x's 10000.  I'm no longer sick (well, minus very minor moments of nausea) but I definitely don't have the energy back yet.  Hello!  16 weeks here.  Give me back my energy yo!  Oh well.  It will come.  (Right?  Please say it will.)  Nah, in all reality I think I do have more energy than I did...just all the traveling and time with family, not being at your own home, and etc. does a number on the ole' energy level.  But that's ok.  It's sure a good thing my house is a complete DISASTER zone.  That should help right?  Oh wait...doh. My solution.  One word.  HUSBAND.  Problem solved.  Yay him.

And now.  Let us take a moment to thank god for something.
I'm being serious now if you couldn't tell.
No really.  For reals.  :)

Ok, so I don't know why NOBODY filled me in on this but having a baby is expensive.  Like for reals. (Total and utter sarcasm there)  I mean seriously, if they cost this much in the womb I fear how much they cost when they make their great exodus into the world of food by the mouth and poop in the diapers.  The bills are real, and ugly, and large (We have health ins. of course, just a pesky deductible that we pretty much hit just now this year, and then guess what...it starts over Jan 1st.  Awesome.  Not.)  But, we were somewhat prepared because we are somewhat responsible adults, yada yada.  Anyways, my work decided to give us an end of the year bonus.  This is new for me.  I'm not sure what I thought it would be but let's just say I almost puked when I saw what it was.  The generosity of my bosses kind of amazes me...and inspires me.  And the way God provides is always so humbling and mind boggling.  So, thank you God.  Thank you awesome job.  We feel very blessed.

Anyways, that's all for now.  Just wanted you to know I'm alive.  And well.  And yeah.  Happy weekend! <3

Merry Christmas

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Luke 2:12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

Philippians 2:8-10 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth

Merry Christmas Dearies!

May we remember the birth of our great Savior!

The Deets

So...some details.

If you're all, "Details on what yo?"  Scroll to the post before this one.

Ah.  There.  Now you're filled in.

So.

I'm moving towards 15 weeks here in a few days.

I was SICK SICK SICK from weeks 4-12.  I was some what sick weeks 13-14 with a couple of days here and there of relief.  I think I'm sorta feeling better now.  I still have good days and bad days.  I never once barfed though.  Praise the Lord on that since I lost weight for sure as it was.  I had little to no ability to eat and the nausea/headaches...unlike anything I've ever experienced.  On top of that...water was/still is nasty.  Yuck.  I've had this weird metallic/sour taste that fills my mouth 24/7...kinda like I've been sucking on a metal lamp post.  Drinking water.  Yeah.  LIQUID metal.  Yum yum.  For a while the only liquid I could drink was Gatorade.  Now, I'm transitioning to water.

If you didn't notice...we did wait a bit longer than average to spill the beans.

The reason...

This is not my 1st pregnancy.  This is my 2nd.  Over the summer we became pregnant (unintentionally).  It was a HUGE shock and took some getting used to.  Right around the time we started coming around to the idea though I had a miscarriage.  It was early...around 7-8 weeks or so...though the babe stopped growing at around 6 weeks apparently.  I was rocked by it. Before I didn't really understand why people become so sad from a  miscarriage (hello naive girl).  Especially when it's your first and you've never had a real life baby come as a result of your pregnancy. You know, it's really an abstract thing when you've never been pregnant before.  They TELL you there's a baby in there and yet...the concept is just...odd.  Or maybe that's just me.  So, yes, I, silly silly Anna, underestimated the power of carrying a child and losing it.  And although it was hard, and painful, and so very sad...in some strange way I feel blessed that my eyes have been opened to how foolish my thoughts were and how ridiculous I was to believe that losing the life of one of God's children wouldn't impact me.  That baby is in heaven and one day I will meet him/her.  And for now...I thank God that he was not satisfied with my foolishness and insensitivity but chose to reveal himself and truths to me through the loss of that little itsy bitsy life.

So, that's the reason why we waited.

Other random details:

I've had 2 sonos, and at my last appt. on Mon. we heard the heartbeat.  So awesome.

I get super nervous for each appointment.  I'm not a "fear the worst" person but I can be very realistic too.  But God has been so good and the little babe is doing well.

We find out the gender next month (yes, we're finding out).

 No cravings.  I'm just now kind of starting to like food again to be honest. 

I'm already poking out.  Which is funny.  I'm just used to being so darn thin.  And to have this belly...albeit a small one...yeah.  Cracks me up.

I maintained the gym up until week 8 and then I just couldn't take it any longer.  Too tired, too sick.  This week I started back up.  Feels.so.good.  I will run and do the spin bike a few more weeks and then I will be cancelling the gym and heading to the pool a few blocks from my house.  I am NOT A SWIMMER.  It is my least favorite thing to do.  But I'm determined to exercise to the end.  I'll let ya know how that goes.  hehe.

And that's it!   :)  Baby E makes their debut mid June.

Of course I'd love prayer too.  God has given me GREAT and unbelievable peace this pregnancy.  I did NOT want to get pregnant again out of fear of another miscarriage but God had other plans apparently.  I have felt His great comfort and love surround me...and yet I still get moments of anxiety.  We would love prayer for more peace and also...of course...for a healthy, full term little babe.

Thanks everyone for the love and support.  Ya'lls the bestest.  <3

Pssst. Wanna know a Secret?

Sorry, it's been a WEEK since I've posted.

My oh my how time is flying!  Christmas is in like a week!

But yeah.

So.

Guess what?!?

I've got an incy wincy itty bitty secret I've been keeping from ya'll.

Yeah.

God is pretty awesome.  And ever so good.  And we feel very blessed.   

Graduation Weekend

Well, the man is "done".  I say "done" because it's mostly true.  He presented his thesis/final project on Friday and did uh.maz.ing.  Seriously, I'm not just saying this because I'm his wife.  I was totally impressed with his clarity, intellectualism, and word choice.  He is a TEACHER to the core and it came out in his thesis presentation.  He is super close to being done with his paper.  His adviser is editing it one last time and once that's turned in he's done done for real.  :)

So, I know a lot of Jason's classmates...but I got to meet a lot more of his colleagues who teach with him and also his superiors.  You know, as wives we know our husbands are nice, and pretty swell...but I think it's really easy for us to forget how there can be others who respect and admire him too.  I had a ton of people of come up to me and tell me that Jason has integrity like none other, the gift of teaching, kindness, and etc.  One fellow classmate told me that Jason is the best, kindest person he has ever met.  First, what a testimony because Jason is openly a Christian.  And second, it made me think and reflect on the way in which I view him.  Sure, if you asked me what I think about Jason I would list off all those characteristics that other people see.  But, is it reflected in the every day?  Does HE know I view him the same way his colleagues, and classmates do?  Or does it get lost in the mundane, the nagging, the disappointment that he didn't do the dishes, and etc?  I need to be his biggest fan...and he needs to know it.  It was sweet to hear such kind words about my man though.  :)  Anyways, it was a great weekend to celebrate Jason's great accomplishment of an M.A. in English.

Anyways, enough blabbering.  Here are some pics from the weekend.  Enjoy!

The graduate and I...with his fakey diploma.  :)  The real one will come in the mail.

After they all presented we gathered for a reception.  This is the M.A. English (TESL) group for winter 2012.

The cake I made for the graduating class.  The theme was Navigating the Global Seas of English...or something like that.  His program was very international and so each flag represented a classmate's origin.  I must be honest though...this is my least favorite cake I've ever done.  It was a disaster in so many ways.  It took too long (till 4 am), the fondant was cracking like crazy...it was sweating.  And in the end I didn't even love the way it looked.  Every one freaked out at the reception at how cool it was and it took every ounce of me not to say, "Well, thanks but I don't really love it, it's not my best."  I didn't want to be THAT person.  So I smiled and said "thank you".  Longest caption EVER.  :)

Jason's parents came into town and we took them to our favorite pastry shop...Thorough Bread.  Seriously, the BEST pastry shop in S.F.  Anyways, they had a Christmas tree completely made out of bread!  It was amazing!

 

And there you have it.  Hope everyone had a marvelous weekend.  And can you believe that Christmas is in like 2 weeks!?!  Yay o yay.  I'm excited!  :)

**Oh and I announced my You Bake Me Happy Winner in the post below if you didn't notice.**  :)

You Bake Me Happy: WINNER!

Sorry for the delay on posting the winner.  This weekend has been cuh-razy.  Like coming home Thursday night to finish the class graduation cake for Jason...and having it take until 4 a.m. to finish.  Yeah.  Painful.  The even more painful part...having to wake up at 6:30 a.m. Friday.  Oye vay. 

But, that aside.

Here's the winner.

Random.org has chosen entry #4!

And the 4th comment (not counting the deleted one is........)

Kellie Jeffrey  December 5, 2012 10:46 AM

I would love something chocolatey and fudgey cookie that would go great with a cup of coffee :)

Yay Kellie!

I'm so excited to mail you your treat.  If you can email your address to a.evangel09 at gmail.com that would be grand!  

Thanks for entering everyone!  Until January!

Happy Sunday!

You Bake Me Happy Wednesday--Christmas Edition

Source

What up peeps!?!

It's December.  Which means 'tis the season for sweet, delectable baked treats that make you all round and pudgy and happy.  Mmmmm.

The even BETTER news is that it's...YOU BAKE ME HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

The first Wednesday of the month where I, yours truly, bake you something sugary and buttery and send it to you in the mail.  Yay you!

Wanna know the reasoning behind this madness???  Well, how boutchya read The Full Story behind You Bake Me Happy Wednesday!

The sum of it is...I LOVE to bake.  I LOVE to give people my baked goods.  I mean really, is there anything better than a homemade, from scratch, little morsel of goodness that didn't involve you stirring a spoon or turning on your own oven?  I.think.not.  Thus, I bake for you and mail it to your lovely house for you to eat and fill your belly.  yum.



So, here are the details...

FIRST,
Being we are now in December I couldn't resist not doing your favorite Christmas cookie.  You know, that cookie that must be made sometime between now and December 25th or it just doesn't quite feel like Christmas.  For my husband it's Snowball cookies.  For me, I love any chocolate peppermint combo.  So what you must do is leave a comment with your cookie of choice and if I pick your name (very randomly of course) I will mail you said treat (so you better pick wisely).  Por ejemplo: Say my name is Trudy and I left a comment saying that I would love sugar cookies with icing to show up on my doorstep.  If I choose Trudy, then I will mail her sugar cookies with icing.  Get it?!? Got it!?! Goooood!

The little drawing ends Sat at noon!  So comment before then.  Sat evening I'll let ya know who the lucky winner is!  (and be sure to check back because I can't mail nada if I don't know where you live...and then I have to pick a second winner and then this is drawn out all long where I mail November's cookies a week before December.  Sad story.)

************************************************************************************

So, what delectable Christmas cookie would YOU want to magically appear on your doorstep???  Ready.Set.Go!

Side Note:  Yes, I will mail treats to people I don't know in real life.  Wait, blogland isn't real life?  Whaaa!?  Also, if you won last month you have to sit this one out.  But don't worry.  You are free to enter there after! 

Countdown

4 days until Jason presents his thesis (not including today) :)

Then he turns in grades for his class, finishes the actual paper for his thesis a week later, and then we.are.done.  With grad school.  Forever.

It's funny because I'm imagining this lovely time come January where he's just teaching and having lots of spare time to hang out and do fun things.  Ha!  Double Ha Ha!

This last year he's been teaching along with going to school...but it's been one class.  Next semester he adds on two classes to that sched.  Two classes that he's never taught.  Classes like grammar.  I think he's totally freaked that he's going to be asked a grammar question that he doesn't know.  Apparently saying, "because it's sounds right" isn't a good enough answer.  Whatev.  :)

Anyways, I think he's going to be plenty busy still.  Oh well.  I can dream right? 

This last weekend I made 6 layers for the graduating M.A. English class cake and a bajillion cupcake toppers.  The cake layers are in the freezer all cold and cozy waiting to be assembled.  Did you know you could do that and it doesn't get dry? (Granted I use a fairly moist cake recipe).  Anyways, you can and I've found it to be a lifesaver when doing these crazy cakes I like to do...especially when you work full time and are running out of vacay time to take an extra day off and do the cake like you planned on.  Oops.  Thursday is going to be a loooooooong night. :)

Anyways, pics on the cake/cupcakes to come.  I'm envisioning great things.  We'll see how it ACTUALLY turns out. 

I have really long skinny toes.  I was just looking down at my feet trying to think what else to type.  I mean they're loooong.  My dad is all tall and lanky.  It's like I got his tall, lanky toes but nothing else.  Genetics.

Alright, Happy Monday all!

***Guess what's already here on Wednesday!  Yup!  You Bake Me Happy Wednesday! Yaaaay!***

But wait.  A blog post is always boring with out pictures so here's one to inspire greatness from you!

I stuffed my butt into this here recycling bin with my feet swinging leisurely in the air and my lovely co-worker took a pic for all to enjoy.  I swear I do things at work that are worthy of a paycheck.  Sometimes...  :)