27 Weeks

We are rejoicing with each additional week that we can get in the pregnancy, and today marks week #27. We only have one week to go until we make it to the third trimester. While we are definitely praying that we can have a full term pregnancy, Gary and I know that God has a plan for this child's life and it is much better than any of the plans that we can ever make on our own. So, we are being faithful to take the right medications and stay and bedrest and follow the doctor's orders, but in the end know that God has already planned out our daughter's birthday.

I go back for a doctor's appointment on Monday, so I will let everyone know what our status is at that point. Thank you for your continued support right now - we can't tell you how much it has meant to us.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

11 weeks (I felt like I was showing so much at this point - ha!)

21 weeks

25 weeks

27 weeks

Deacon isn't sure what to think of all of this new baby stuff

Baby Update

Thank you all so much for your texts, emails, notes, calls, and mostly for your prayers!! We are at home now and doing much better. After a very long weekend in the hospital with terbutaline shots and 16 hours on a magnesium sulfate drip, we went into the doctor's office for our regular checkup on Monday morning. Unfortunately, I was still having contractions, so they got me set up with home health to monitor and medicate. I am on strict bedrest, but have the contractions under control!! I will be 27 weeks on Friday and am thankful for everyday that this little girls stays put. I have heard so many encouraging stories from people who have started having problems at this point in their pregnancy and gone on to have healthy, full-term babies. Some even went past their due date and had to be induced! I am so thankful to my mom and Gary who have been here pretty much around the clock to make sure that I stay put and get everything that I need.

Please continue to pray for "Baby Veritas", that she will grow to term and that we will do everything that we can to make sure that that happens. We know that God has a plan for this baby girl and we have faith that this is all a part of it. Also pray for Gary as he has a full load taking care of me right now. He is so patient and such a great caregiver - I'm so thankful for him!

We will keep you posted on our progress. I also have some pictures that I will post soon.

Baby Veritas is a bit Anxious

For those of you who haven't heard, Kathryn and I have been spending the last couple of days in the River Oaks Hospital in Jackson, MS.  Our little girl (who at this point is being called Baby Veritas, coined by our Sunday School Class) is a bit anxious to meet the real world and is sending Kathryn into contractions.  Considering we are only 26 weeks along in the pregnancy, it is not quite time to have a baby.

We want to express our thanks for all of the prayers, calls, txts, and emails showing your love and concern for us.  Please keep Kathryn in your thoughts and prayers.  The doctors have attempted to stop the contractions using tributylene, and that wasn't stopping the contractions, so we have moved on to a Magnesium Sulfate drip through her IV.   We will try to update the blog as information changes.  Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers.

~Gary, Kathryn, and Baby Veritas

I'm It...

I have been putting this off because I have a hard time with self-reflection, but here goes. 6 quirky things about me:

1. It bothers me when the closet door is left open at night. This is all thanks to Laura. I never thought twice about it until we became friends and she had to close the closet door. It stuck. Now that I'm married and Gary's closet door is the one that we can see from our bed, I fight the urge to get up and close it when he leaves it open.

2. I don't like for my hands to be dirty. I realize that most people probably prefer to have clean hands, but if I've been working in the dirt or petting a dog (which is often because I love dogs), I think about the fact hat my hands are in fact dirty until I can get to a sink to scrub them. This makes playing in the sand at the beach tricky because I hate to have sand on them and then, if I wash them off in the ocean, I'm thinking about how gross that ocean water actually is and all of the things in that dirty water that have now been transferred to my hands.

3. I usually have a pile of about 5-10 books that I am in the process of reading at any given moment. Whenever anyone suggests a book, I will put down the one that I am working on and start the new one, going back to the last one occasionally. As of right now, I am reading Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God, What to Expect When You're Expecting (although this really doesn't count because you're supposed to read this one a little at a time), Unshaken by Francine Rivers, The Screwtape Letters, Do Hard Things (a book that we were going to go through with the youth at our church, but decided to go another route), and The Reason for God by Tim Keller. There are about 5 others that I am waiting to start until I finish a few of these).

4. I love organization. Everything in my house may not be in it's place, but I certainly have a place for everything. I used to love the night before school when I could get all of my notebooks labeled and full of paper - I know, I am such a nerd!!!

5. This may go along with #4 - whenever we move to a new house or buy new furniture or something to this effect, I have to get everything put away immediately. For example, I just bought some nursery furniture that Gary was going to put together for me once he was finished with the harvest season. I let it sit in the nursery for one day before I decided to go in there and do it myself. If I had another set of hands, I would have taken a picture of me balancing two sides of the crib against the wall and my leg as my protruding stomach kept me from contorting into the position that I needed to be in in order to screw the two together. However, I did get it finished. I also really wanted to finish before Gary got home. You would think that I would be excited to see him and have the extra set of hands, but I was disappointed that I didn't have a finished product to show him when he walked in the door. So I made him wait outside the room until I finished my project. I also have to unpack my suitcase before I do anything else whenever we go on vacation.

6. I talk in my sleep. I will have entire conversations with Gary - but most of them don't make much sense. Gary loves it when I do this and eggs me on my continuing to ask me questions and will keep me going for as long as he can.

Well, this is a little glimpse into how strange I am. Gary thinks that this list makes me sound very OCD. I think that I probably am a little bit. I won't tag anyone in particular, but would love for others to share. Please let me know if you post your quirky things!

Catching Up

I realize that, other than the baby news, we haven't posted about any of our summer activities. So, I here's what we've been up to over the past few months. Gary and I have both been working with the youth at our church since May. In June, Kathryn took a group of 7 Jr. High students to Florida for RYM, a great youth beach retreat. We had great speakers, great teachers, and great weather. It was a spirit-filled time and it was so great to see these young teens get excited about the gospel. It was also a great opportunity for me to get to know some in our group before I began leading a study with them back home.

The following week, Kathryn taught the 1st graders at Vacation Bible School. While VERY exhausting as I was in my second month of pregnancy, it was such a sweet opportunity to share God's word with young children. Our theme this year was the Olympics, so I was "Coach Kathryn" for the week. One of the students from my class still calls me Coach Kathryn today.

Over the 4th of July weekend, our dearest friends, the Galbreaths, came for a visit. We enjoyed a laid back weekend and getting to show them around our town. Gary and I also loved the time that we had with our godchildren, Carter and Kelsey. Carter is at such a fun age, and we hadn't seen Kelsey since she was a newborn, so it was fun to see her smiling and interacting even more. Before we had moved to Greenwood, we had lived in the same town as the Phillip and Shannon for 6 years. We have missed them greatly, but are so glad that we still get together every few months.

The following weekend, we went to Philadelphia for a wedding. Gary is planning to post about this trip, so I will just say that we had a great time seeing the city and catching up with college friends.

At the end of July, we were able to get away for a few days for a beach vacation with Kathryn's extended family. It was so nice to get away. We had great weather, so we were able to enjoy alot of tennis, golf, and beach time. It is always so much fun to catch up with my cousins that I get to see less and less these days. We were so grateful that Gary was able to get away from the farm for a few days of R&R.

A few weeks later, Kathryn went with her sister and parents to visit her brother in Boston. We had a fun-filled weekend of touring Harvard, Cambridge, and Boston and visiting Fenway Park for our first Red Sox game. Walker seems to be loving life in the big city. Although it was a very quick trip (we got in on Friday afternoon and left early Sunday morning), we are all ready for our next trip. The next weekend, we got Susanne moved into her dorm at Birmingham-Southern College. It is hard to believe that she is in college now. She has already gone through rush and pledged KD and is also on the rifle team. They will be traveling to our neck of the woods next weekend to compete against the University of Memphis and Ole Miss.

At the end of August, Kathryn went to Knoxville to help with our nieces while Gary's sister, Catherine, was on bedrest. I always look forward to these extended visits with our young nieces/nephew. I get to see so much more of their little personalities come out when I get them all to myself for a few days. A few days before I was planning to leave, Catherine went into labor and our niece, Gabrielle Marie Foca ("Gabby") was born. Happy Belated Birthday, Gabby! Pictures of this visit are below:

Precious in Pink Ballerinas

"Asleep" on the floor

Enjoying the geese at the park
On a serious business call
Gabriella Marie Foca

During all of these travels and events, Gary has been busy at work on the farm. They managed to survive two hurricanes and have had alot of great, sunny weather lately, so harvest is coming along well. I am so proud of Gary for all of the long and hard hours that he has been putting in and am thankful for his dedication to work and providing for our growing family. "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve." Colossians 3:23

Our Precious Daughter

I thought that I should go ahead and get a couple of the sonogram pictures up while the background is still pink in celebration. (The picture to the right is a little foot :-)) For those of you who know Gary, you know that he is not a big fan of the color pink. It was so sweet of him to pay this tribute to our little girl. We are so thankful that she appears to be very healthy. In fact, Gary got to feel a little kick for the first time last night. Please pray with us for a healthy and growing baby girl.

ITS A GIRL!!!!!

Kathryn and I have just returned from our doctor in Jackson, MS and have found out that our little one due in February is a girl.  In honor of my wife and baby to be I have changed the background of our blog to the most girly image that I could find on the internet.  Don't expect this to be a lasting change, but I figured it was only appropriate considering I am about to be outnumbered in the household.

Our nephew Jacob is going to be extremely disappointed with his Uncle Gary as he was counting on us adding his first boy cousing to the family, but he will have to take care of another girl, and continue to hold the mantle as the only boy in his generation.  We have pictures on the sonogram that we will post later...our little girl is as healthy as can be determined at this point.  Please continue to pray for HER development inside of Kathryn's womb.