Thanksgiving

Well, I realize that everyone and their mom is going to post a thanksgiving post, and I sure didn't want to be left out of the club! Ha :) Adam and I had a VERY eventful thanksgiving, and had a ton of fun with our families. Last year Adam was sick with food poisoning, so neither of us got to be with our families. Thankfully, this year totally made up for it! I would say that my thanksgiving officially started on Wednesday night when my sister-in-law and I made 2 casseroles & 2 pies. I was beyond exhausted, and really wanted to give up a few times, but she kept pushing me til we were done! Thanks Tiffany :) It all turned out great. Wednesday night we spent the night at my parents, woke up, and then I helped my mom some with the cooking, and we had lunch there. Then, around 2:45 or so we drove over to Adam's parents for round 2!!! Needless to say we were totally stuffed and I'm sure that my belly grew....not due to the baby, but to all the yummy food! Here are some pictures of our time. (Of course they are a little out of order..I'm so bad at putting the pictures in right!)

Pumpkin Pie! Yum!!
Tiffany & I preparing Apple Pie

The beginning of the night...when I was happy :)

Adam and I at my parent's house

My sister and I being goofy

The Meal

My family at Lunch...Round 1 down!

Me making ANOTHER pie..it was early, can you tell?!

Adam and I at the Porter's

Tiffany & I being very proud of our casseroles

The Porter Boys

Adam & I (and the baby!)

Tiffany & Anthony

Adam & Anthony

Now, don't tell me Thanksgiving is ONLY for humans...Steve & Sophie have a lot to be thankful for too! And since we are thankful for them, we gave them lots & lots of turkey :)

We hope that you all had a great thanksgiving. The Lord is truly so good, and there is soooo much to be thankful for!

Love, Krystle

Project Turkey

Every year at our church, we do a little something called "Project Turkey". It's a really fun ministry to be a part of. We get to take a box of food to a family in need, equipped with a full thanksgiving dinner. We are a part of the high school ministry, and we drive some of the students around to deliver the boxes. This year, we had some of my small group girls come along! They chatted up a storm (of course), but they are a TON of fun to be around :) Here are some pictures of our time. Oh yeah, and also just some random ones...we finally got a new camera!!! Yay!
P.S. Ashley, never fear, Belly pics are coming soon!

The Loot
Adam & The Crazy Girls!

Adam and I

The puppies w/their TERRIBLE haircuts!

Adam and I taking some good ol fashioned self-portraits w/the new cam!

Family Pictures

Our friend Jennifer, well, I say friend, but she is more like family, offered to take our whole family's Christmas pictures :) Luckily, I went down a little early and she took some awesome ones of the dogs & I with the best lighting before the rest of my family got there. Then she did some individual, smaller family pictures....she is building her portfolio right now, and I'd say that she is ALREADY pretty stinkin' awesome! Here are some of them she just sent over to me....

Thanks Jennifer. They look simply Fantastic!

P.S. My computer is being really weird, and left little dots on the pictures! They aren't that way when I look at them on my computer...I am saying this as a disclaimer so that you know that Jennifer's work is amazing...just not my computer!

A Baby Changes Everything

I thought the title of this post was fitting. It's true in so many ways. In light of the upcoming season though, I heard a song called "A Baby Changes Everything" by Faith Hill. I absolutely LOVE it. She captures what Mary must have been thinking when she was pregnant with Jesus. It's really cool to think about the season through that perspective. I have so much respect for Mary. Though she didn't have a choice but to have Jesus, she was still faithful to what God wanted her to do.





Since being pregnant, I have been thinking a lot. Mostly being nervous about my ability to be a mom. I said before that I really want to lead my child by example. Now, I am NOT naive to think that I will do everything right, but there are certain things that I feel should be in place. And all of these things have to do with my faith. It's weird. Lately, I have really noticed my timidness (is that a word?) towards being open about my faith. For example, I find that when I'm in church and I'm enjoying a worship song, I feel embarassed about lifting my hands in fear of what people will think. Or when I'm around friends and I want to just talk about how Good the Lord is, I hold back because, again, I'm afraid that they will think I'm lame or not really know or understand how I'm feeling. The question that is always popping in my head is, "Is this how I want my child to feel about their faith? Do I want them to hold back in fear of PEOPLE?!" The answer-ABSOLULETY not. My faith in Christ is what makes me who I am. And hopefully it's what makes my child who they are too.

I was telling a few of the high schoolers last night that I love the song by Third Day "Nothing Compares". It talks about how nothing compares to greatness of knowing Jesus & having a relationship with him. NOTHING... The approval of people, my posessions, my appearance, the things that I enjoy,etc. When I first became a christian, I remember putting my headphones on and just sinking in all of those sweet & precious words about Jesus in my 5 worship songs I found. I listened to them over and over. I secluded myself from all of my friends, from everything, just so that I could have MORE of Jesus. My life felt so FILLED with joy & gratitude that someone would sacrifice themself for ME. What an amazing feeling. Truly, nothing compares to that satisfaction. Jesus has been humbling me lately with that memory. There is nothing in my life that can possibly compete wtih Him. He is where all my happiness lies.

So, today, Mary inspires me. Her faithfulness, her dedication, and her sacrifice (knowing that she will have to give her innocent Son over to pay for the sins of the world. I want to be selfless like that. Genuiness is what truly attracts. So, when I feel like lifting my hands in praise, or shouting at the top of my lungs about how the Lord is soooo good and above everything else, I'm going to do it. Am I going to worry about people thinking that I'm corny or cliche?? Nope. There won't be a hint of that. I will leave you with the Third Day song that brings me to my knees EVERYTIME.

Guessing Game???????

The date is set! We are finding out what we are having on December 22nd. I absolutely CAN NOT WAIT!!! All the old wives tales say that I'm having a girl, but are those things ever right?! Probably not. So, I decided to open it up to you guys....and I would be very interested to see what you all think I'm having :) Adam and I have no clue. I have no "feelings" either way. I'm trying not to want one or the other more either, that way I'm just over-the-moon over whatever it is! I even had a dream that I had the baby, and the doctor said, "It's a boy!", and then a few minutes later, it turned into a girl! Ha ha! I'm not even partial in my drems. I will definitely post that day and let everyone know what "IT" is.

So, the floor is open people.......

Is it an ABRAM or an ELLIE?????????

Til next time...

Love, Krystle

It's Christmas Time in the City!

I can't even begin to explain to you how excited I am about the christmas season being so near! Well, who am I kidding, I am ALREADY listening to christmas music! Yesterday I turned on the radio only to hear christmas carols....from that point on I decided that it's ok for me to break out all of my own cd's and listen to them religiously! I do enjoy thanksgiving as well, but for some reason Turkey just doesn't give me the same warm & fuzzy feeling :)

In other news, I got to see our sweet little baby yesterday! I had an ultrasound and he/she was just going crazy! It was doing flips, pushing itself off and switching positions....it had the ultrasound technician and I cracking up! She couldn't get the measurements she was trying to get for the longest time; fortunately for me :) I just got to stare at our little miracle for so much longer...if only I could actually feel all that movement! I can't wait.

If you haven't noticed already, I'm well past the "freaked-out" stage and into the SUPER EXCITED stage! It's kind of hard knowing that I will be in a different boat then a lot of my friends, but at the same time, how can you be too upset about meeting and caring for the amazing baby that you and the one you love made?!?! I'd say it's pretty impossible. I am a little over 3 months now...as you can see from my little meter (top right)! And my belly has popped just a little bit. Unfortunately our camera is still not working, so I can't post any pictures :( It doesn't really matter though because I'm at that awkward chubby stage...the one where people just think you are really bloated...so glamorous!

Oh, and by the way, I have already had people tell me "what to do" or "what not to do" while being pregnant/having the baby/during labor/..and the list goes on. And let me tell you it is NO BUENO people! I love their insight & deeply appreciate it, but everyone is different...your way will most likely NOT be my way. Ok, I'm off my pedistool. Thanks for listening :)

Love,

Krystle

A Tribute to the One I Love

Here he is. My husband. Adam. Lately I have been realizing my deep deep love for this man. So, this is a post in honor of this man I am priveledged to call my husband, best friend, life partner, father of my babies, companion, and the list goes on...

1) I love that he is a great man of God, and in this world, that is extremely hard to find. He challenges me.

2) I love that he is a good listener. He really wants to know and cares about what I have to say and what others have to say.

3) I love that he asks me, "What do you think about that?"- this was hard for me at first, not coming from a background where people actually wanted to know that- but now that it has been asked too many times to count, I absolutely LOVE it.

4) I love that he has convictions that he doesn't waver on-it really shows me his self-control & integrity.

5) I love that when I look in the mirror (especially lately) and just feel fat, he can reassure me like no other. I always feel beautiful to him.

6) I love that the whole time I have been pregnant so far, he has been making all the food- I mean ALL of it- washing the dishes, cleaning the house, and telling me that my only job is to take care of myself and relax...I am living in a dream world people!

7) I love it that when I think about him, I still get overwhelmed by how much I love him.

8) I love that when I watch girly movies, I am never jealous of the romances...mine totally ROCKS the socks off of all those :)

9) I love it that he gained 30 pounds after we got married! All that good eatin'!

10) I love it that he grows his beard out and loves it! He doesn't even have to participate in no-shave November this year, he has been rockin' his beard for about 6 months now!

....alright everyone, I will stop being so lovey dovey. But, sometimes you just can't help it. Especially when you are married to someone as awesome as my husband!

Until next time....

It's been TOO LONG!

Wow. I think I set a record for myself on the "lack of blogging" meter. We have been so busy lately with all the new changes going on! We found out we were having a baby while we were packing up our apartment to move into a new place, we then moved into that new place, and are now trying to finish un-packing everything, all while trying to adjust to this new life we are entering into...talk about emotion overload! Hopefully soon it will start settling down a bit.

Unfortunately at this time, I don't feel like baby talk. I have a lot to say, but honestly, I'm tired of talking about it! Don't get me wrong, I love my little baby, but when you get pregnant it seems like that's the only thing that people want to talk to you about. So, I will leave that for a later post :)

Oh, and my camera broke, so new pictures of our place & things won't come for a while. Forgive me! We do really love our new place though. It's not the typical apartment layout which is nice. It feels like a little home :) Adam and I have been talking a lot about being parents. The responsibility of it all hits pretty fast. We feel really convicted about our own lives. We really want to teach our child by example...not the "do as I say, not as I do" stuff. It's hard! It's important for us to become more focused on integrity and discipline in order to accomplish any of this! Obviously I'm not naive to think that I will have it "all down" by the time the baby comes, ya right! But even to be a few steps in the right direction won't hurt by any means.

So, those are just a few minor updates. We still haven't hooked up the internet at our new place so I will post just as soon as I can!

Much Love to you ALL!
-Krystle