End of March

Well, here we are in April. How in the WORLD did that happen? I'll try to briefly update you on what we've been doing.

We had a busy end of March. On the 22nd we had our childbirthing class which lasted SIX hours, but was really informative. It wasn't the breathing classes you see being made fun of on TV, it was more an educational class with some pretty graphic videos about the whole process. I'm really glad Joel went because he had never seen birthing videos and now he's as horrified as I am of the whole process :) After that class we met up with my parents and headed to Branson, MO, to watch the Dixie Stampede dinner show for my dad's birthday. It was a TON of fun. They have spectacular horses and do some really awesome stunts and skits with the animals. They also fed us a huge dinner during the show.

A few short days later it was Joel's birthday. We had a "grape jelly making party" for him at my mom's house (long story, it was his request...), we ate some really nice steaks, and he got a really cool touch screen camera! I know, you would think we'd have more photos posted!!!

The next day I left for the Tulsa Workshop with a group from our church. It's a huge event with thousands of people from around the country. There are different classes every hour on the hour with different speakers on different topics that you can choose to attend, and there are booths with all sorts of info to browse. At night there is a keynote speaker and lots of really REALLY good singing! Joel joined us Friday night and attended the Saturday classes with us. We got to see some old friends, and more importantly, learned a LOT about being a more effective Christian. We came back pretty excited and got all sorts of neat things going at our church to reach out and help our community.

Saturday in Tulsa we found ourselves in the middle of a blizzard. It snowed like 8 inches from 8am to 4pm with that wet, heavy snow. The roads were a MESS and since we were with a group we decided to leave a little early and get past the weather before it froze for the night and got dark. Here is a photo of us in the snow. Brrrr!

Little Miss Mia

Well, we got to see our little baby girl again today and it was such a treat. Joel, my mom, and I went to get the 4D ultrasounds and Mia sure put on a show. She yawned for us, she smiled for us, and she even got fussy when I pushed too hard on one side of my belly. She made a real cranky face, which I won't post - we're only going to show the cute happy baby pictures, not the preview of the attitude that is to come...tee hee hee.

She looks perfectly healthy and a little chubby too! I can not believe that in 9 weeks she will be here in my and Joel's arms making these faces out in the open air. It's amazing. And we have so much to DO still!!!! Eek!

Please continue to pray that she grows healthy and strong in my belly and that everything comes out all right - literally :) . I'll post a baby bump (more like baby BLIMP) photo soon so you can see how much larger I've gotten!

Here's a peaceful sleeping picture. Her arms are up by her face, you can see her elbows, and her hands are behind her head. She's just kickin' back relaxing in there!

The whole time the ultrasound was going on, she kept this right foot up by her face. She would stick her toes in her eyes, her nose, then kick it outward toward my belly. But she always brought it back to around her face. SO...here's her cute little grin, with some chubby toes included :)

Here's the big yawn. I guess we wore her out with all the poking and prodding. Once again, that little foot is front and center, those arms are still behind her head reclining, and looks like she's ready for a nap!

SO sorry!

Well, it has been entirely too long since I've posted anything, and I'm very sorry. I'll explain what we've been up to and perhaps you'll forgive me =) There aren't any photos to post today, but I promise you'll have some next week...

About 6 weeks ago, Joel and I opened Razorback Ribs, our new BBQ joint. We purchased a mobile unit and professional cooker a few months ago and have been preparing to open in the mean time. For anyone who didn't know, Joel lost his job back in October, so we had to find another avenue for income! It took a little while, but we're finally open. Since I've known Joel, he has always dreamed of owning his own restaurant and that is finally becoming a reality. We are not a full-fledged restaurant at this point, but who knows what the future holds. For now, people order their food at our window and most take it with them either back to work for lunch, or home for dinner. We do have indoor seating for about 12, and we have picnic tables behind our building by the creek for those who want to get away and eat outside in the fresh air. So far, God has blessed us beyond belief with great business. Everyone RAVES about Joel's BBQ and we have done really well with sales. We have landed a few catering jobs which really helps as well.

My part of the gig is that I make all the potato salad from scratch at home. I go through 50-75 lbs of potatoes a week, so you can imagine how busy that keeps me. Along with that, I'm working between 4 and 6 hours a day at the business until we can afford to hire someone (or Mia comes along, which ever happens first!). It has been really hectic, but if we can get a good solid start at this business, I know it will be far easier when we hire someone. We'll have all the kinks worked out by then and they won't have to be guinea pigs :).

In the middle of all this maddness, I got SUPER sick and couldn't be of any help to Joel for about 3 days, and I was pretty lame help for about a week. That wasn't fun. Luckily they gave me antibiotics and I'm finally on the road to recovery.

ALSO, I wanted to brag on my precious husband a little bit. He has preached for our church twice now (first time was a few months ago) and does an absolutely incredible job. I was pretty nervous the first time he preached, because if you know Joel, you NEVER know what's going to come out of his mouth! But he did amazing both times and God is really working through him. He has a great way of connecting with people and really touching hearts. I'm very proud of him, as is our whole church, and community at that!

SO, between new business, potato salad madness, illness, church functions, getting a baby room ready, being 7.5 months pregnant, trying to keep my household kept up, and finding time to put my swollen feet up, you can imagine how busy it's been around here. I promise I'll be better at posting with time. Next week are our 4D ultrasound pics of Mia, so I'll be sure to post those!

Baby Bump

Ok. After a lot of poking and prodding (especially on MEGAN'S PART!!! tee hee hee), here is a picture of my belly. Granted, Megan is FAR more brave for baring all in her belly bump picture, but beggars can't be choosers. I'm shy! So this will have to suffice. Anyways, I am 26 weeks pregnant. Full term is considered 36 weeks, but normal gestation is 40 weeks. Confusing. But long story short, I could easily give birth in 10 WEEKS and Mia would be totally full term and healthy. That would be AWESOME. Yet, a little nerve wracking at the same time. I can't fathom what life has in store for Joel and I in a few short months!!! She is a kicking and squirming little thing, and lately she has this new thing of kicking her feet and punching her arms at the same time, so both sides of my belly are getting pounded at the same time. It's pretty hilarious. She has quite the attitude already. Joel talks to the belly all the time and the other day he called her fussy and got punched in the ear. Hee hee hee. I like this kid already :) We get our 4D ultrasounds in like 5 weeks so we'll have a better idea of what she is going to look like. Be sure to check back for those photos!

Caring for the Utility Workers

Since these utility workers have been in our area for over 2 weeks at this point, they have been working ridiculously long hours trying to get the power back on so that they can get back home. They are exhausted, to say the least. So we wanted to do something nice to tell them thank you and that we're grateful for all their hard work. Every Thursday night our local youth come over and have dinner at our house so we put them to work. I bought all kinds of snack foods, from chips, jerky, and tangerines to string cheese, and some other parents pitched in with peanuts, gum, and cookies. We put together these care package bags with a little thank you note. We drove around that night to the parking lots where most of their utility trucks are parked and put a care package on each windshield. We also delivered bags to the Army National Guard guys (about 50 in our town) who are here doing clean up. All in all, we delivered 115 bags to the utility works and ANG guys. It was a lot of fun and I hope they know how grateful we truly are for their service.

This is Gentry making cookies for the care packages.

Joel, Mikaela (Peanut as we call her), and Whit cutting up Razorback Rib coupons for the bags.

Karlie, Kaitlin, and Rachel cutting out the Thank You notes.

Me putting on the final touches.

And my dear Joel counting our progress.

Aftermath

We have recovered (almost) fully from our ice storm here in Northern Arkansas. Almost every one has gotten power back at this point, but for many the wait was close to 2 weeks!!! It has been a mess, but also a blessing for many. I'll explain. Of course everyone, everywhere, is complaining about the economy, but due to the storm we had over 500 utility workers from out of state working in our town alone! And our town is TINY. These utility workers ate at local restaurants, stayed at the local motels, had flat tire after flat tire fixed at the local tire shop, supported our hardware store, etc. On top of that, many locals who were without power also had to eat out more often, and many of them opted to stay at a hotel or motel rather than at home because they didn't have power for nearly 2 weeks. To top it off, all the tree limbs that were broken everywhere gave many unemployed men work to do cleaning yards, business lots, etc. They are still working their tails off trying to get everything cleaned up. Our local utility workers have been working 7 days a week, and long hours every day, so they're making a lot of money in overtime too. And that's just our TOWN. There are many towns surrounding us that have had the same experience. So really, even though it was a mess and people didn't have power for a long time, God has really used this to bring financial relief to a lot of people who were hurting this time of year. Our friend owns the main motel in our town and he wasn't going to be able to cover his bills this month, until the storm hit. Now he's had a record January and it's looking like a record February too! Isn't that awesome?

Joel and I took a 4-wheeler ride to look at the broken trees and such in our area. Here's just a glimpse of one small section of forest that has fallen down. And I threw in a photo of our dog, Sadee, launching herself through waves we were making in my parent's creek. Silly girl.

Ice Storm, Day 2

So we had snow fall Tuesday night which just made the limbs heavier and caused more destruction. We had no power all Tuesday night, but it came back on Wednesday morning. Somehow we are some of the lucky ones who have had any power at all, though ours goes out for a few hours each day. Our neighbors, friends, and family are almost all without power and the power companies estimate 3-4 weeks before they can get the power back on to most people. We had people coming over to use our showers, charge their electronics, eat some warm food, etc. Generators are completely sold out for hundreds of miles and so today my dad drove 2 hours south to buy 6 that my uncle found him, which he already has buyers for when he gets home. As a result of having no power, most people have no water either. All the stores are sold out of gallons and bottles of water at this point too. Yesterday at 1pm, our city lost all water as well. So those of us on city water were also without. The main water pumps still do not have electricity so we have been running off reservoirs and those have run dry at this point. There have already been 9 deaths related to this ice storm, and 17 counties are declared in a state of emergency. There are a lot of elderly people who can not get their oxygen machines or life support machines to work without electricity, and also those who can not get out to get their medications. Almost all businesses are closed and most people are out with chainsaws trying to clear roads and driveways to help people get access to those who need help. The prison even has inmates out using chainsaws to clear roadways. I can't help but think to myself, "only in Arkansas do they give inmates chainsaws..." but so far they haven't had any troubles! We'll keep our fingers crossed on that one.

See the ice build-up on the power lines?

Here's a close-up of another power line.

Here's part of the destruction we woke up to outside our front door:

And this is where that destruction decided to land :( We don't think anything is broken, but the limbs are so heavy we can't pick them all up yet to see. When it melts we'll be able to pick them up no problem and assess the damage then. Thank goodness for insurance!

Part of the dog's kennel, which was pretty much completely beaten down by branches. But the ice is pretty...

This is my darling little plum tree and my darling little dog. The poor plum tree is covered in icicles, and is getting its revenge by stabbing my goofy little dog in the face and back as she tries to walk underneath. She's just lucky a branch didn't fall on her head :)

Remember the cherry picture from yesterday? Well with the accumulation of snow and more rain, the icicles went from about an inch long to about 3 inches long.