Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend was nothing too eventful but full of good family time. Friday night we got a sitter (woohoo!) and went out to celebrate my hubby's new job. (Read about that here if you haven't already). My husband lived a sheltered life from a lot of restaurants before he met me, so I wanted to take him somewhere nice. We decided on Cheesecake Factory and took our sweet neighbors, the Meeks, with us. We LOVE them so it made the night that much better. Daniel loved it and I can't even tell you what kind of cheesecake he ordered because it was gone in literally 3 bites. 

The majority of Saturday was spent on the soccer field for Aubrey's last tournament. She did so well and I finally got some action shots! Some of our other sweet neighbors came to cheer her on. It is so nice to be surrounded by people who love us. We are very blessed.  MollyKate came down with a stomach bug Saturday night which meant a trip to GiGi's house because this mommy cannot handle vomit. At all.

Sunday we went to Elevation and then relaxed the rest of the afternoon. It is so nice to Daniel now has a job where he is home on the weekends. His brother came over and spent some time with us which is always nice too.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend too!

Empty Hands

It has been a week of emotional highs and lows here in the Milsap house. Aubrey spent her first weekend away from us, which was approached with tears and lots of hugs...not to mention Internet research on "how to make visitation easier". We let her take her 2 favorite stuffed animals, which she requested spraying with my perfume, and a few family pictures. She said she had an "kind of fun time but I really missed my home and my family so I was ready to come back." The timing really could not have worked out better though....because little did I know when we sent her off on Thursday morning, what was about to happen over the weekend.

Let me backtrack a bit....

Last Saturday, Daniel took the girls to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast to give me some much needed Mommy sanity time. I had been feeling a little off and since Daniel had been using the "not trying but not not trying approach to"...ahem....things....here lately, I thought maybe I should just take a test a see. At that moment, I kid you not, the song "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" began playing in my head. I was floored, literally, when the results said PREGNANT.  I fell to my knees weeping. What a more perfect time than this to find out we were expecting than the day after we finally landed primary custody of our sweet Aubrey?! I spent a few moments praising the Lord and then started running laps around my room. I called my sweet grandma-in-law to share the news and she wept with me as we talked about not only the timing now, but how different it felt this time, now that Daniel and I are married. I truly felt like this was my reward for being faithful for the past almost 2 years through the trials we have been through as a family.

We had family photos the next day (because I am determined to send out our Christmas card this year BEFORE Christmas actually arrives). I got the idea from my friend to write on a chalkboard "Arriving June 2014" and hand it to Daniel during the shoot. This way I would have a picture of me sharing the news with him. It worked out wonderfully, although my husband's initial guess as to what was "arriving" was some type of furniture. Gotta love men! We captured some great pictures as a family sharing this moment.

Thursday came and after we dropped Aubrey off, I took MollyKate and her friend Cooper for a run. A few hours later I began what ended up being a miscarriage. I never thought I would say those words about my own life. You hear about others experiencing the loss of their unborn baby, but you never think it will happen to you. At least I didn't. But here now we sit, as I just took another test which read the dreaded words "Not Pregnant" and it is finally sinking in.

Initially, in between the tears and confusion, I was angry with the Lord. I wanted to run those same laps around my room that I ran a few days ago, but this time screaming and shouting and stomping my feet. I forced myself to go to church Sunday although I was sure I would get nothing out of it because I was still throwing my fit on the inside about how unfair this is. I told one of my girlfriends "I just do not understand why my blessing would be ripped from my hands" and all I could envision were my two empty hands.

And then as we were singing "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" in church on Sunday (and I was saying "really Lord? I feel like we are rubbing it in here") He began speaking to me. He once again softened my heart and began to show me the beginnings of the lesson for me in this. While I feel like my baby was taken from me, I now have empty hands to pick up the two I do have and love them even more. I am complaining about losing my #3 when others are not even able to have their #1. I have empty hands to worship the Lord for every blessing that I DO have. My hands have been left empty to love my husband even harder, to pick up my Bible and read it more, to serve more than I do now. And while I am sure this is not the end of my tears, I am comforted in knowing that I do serve a God who loves me enough to wait while I throw my temper tantrum and then once again opens my heart and shows me that He loves me enough to teach me through this.

Weekend Wrap Up

I feel like I end up writing the same thing about every weekend. I live for my weekends but they are pretty typical and mundane. Anyhow, here goes....

Friday- Friday brought about my first real craving. Fried rice-but not just ANY fried rice. Sushi 101 fried rice. After work I headed straight over-good thing it's 5 minutes from my job-and ordered a plate of it along with a crispy bagel roll. YUM. It's a good thing I was able to fulfill that craving because I felt like I would murder someone if not! When I got home from dinner I had a wonderful surprise. My hubby was home early-wayyyy early-from work! We got to spend the evening watching tv and doing laundry. I will take it. It's rare we get a Friday night to spend together.

Saturday- My weekend ritual is to clean my house every weekend. If not on Friday, then definitely by Saturday. Daniel went in to open the store Saturday while I cleaned the house. After he got home we did a few chores together and I headed out to run a few errands and grab some lunch with mom. Saturday night we met up with my sweet friend Jess and her husband at Cowfish. If you haven't been, I strongly suggest you try it out. Beware though-they don't take call ahead and it's very popular, so be prepared for a good hour or 2 for the wait. Totally worth it. Everyone was enjoying their martinis so the waiter brought me a strawberry kiwi fizzy. Not sure what was in it besides fresh fruit but it was delish! It's always so wonderful to see Jess and Brian. I wish they lived closer but hopefully soon they can fix that :)

Sunday- Daniel and I tried a new church on Sunday-First Baptist Indian Trial. It's where my parents go and we just can't get enough of them! Just kidding-they are wonderful-don't get me wrong-but we tried their church because there's a Sunday School class we wanted to try. It's called the "Hatched" class-specifically for married couples in our age range with young children or that are newlyweds. We really loved it! We met a sweet couple that also have a 3 year old daughter and another on the way. We exchanged emails and hopefully will be able to get together with them soon. We really want to make some friends with other married couples our age. This should be a great start! After church we did the usual dinner at Mom and Dad's and headed home for the Lifetime movie marathon. I'm so beyond blessed to have a man that likes to watch Lifetime with me.

Next weekend should be a little more interesting...we are having a yard sale. Woohoo!

Weekend Roundup

This was a pretty fun weekend. Very relaxed which was a nice change. Here's what we were up to:

• Friday night we went to my parent's house and had wings, fries, and tater tots (thank the pregnancy for the tots!) After dinner we tuned into Elevation Church online to watch my favorite pastor, Bishop T.D. Jakes, speak as part of their 12 Day Revival series. You can watch him and all of the other pastors on their website.

• Saturday I got to sleep in a little until Baby M started kicking. I guess she was hungry! I quickly cleaned the house and headed over to Mom and Dad's again for a yummy breakfast. I feel like my whole life revolves around food right now! I only have gained one pound since my last doctor visit though, and only 5 total. That's doing good for being 21 weeks along. Most women have gained 10-15 by now, according to my Sprout Pregnancy App. Anyways, we looked at a few houses on Saturday. We are planning to sell and move within the next few months. We need a fresh start, a what better way than a new home? More on that in my next post. We found one that we LOVE so we will see! Saturday night we went on a date to Olive Garden since we had a gift card to use. It was so nice to get out, just the two of us. We raced home because we realized we missed half of the Lifetime movie we had been waiting over a month to see. It's so nice to have a husband that loves Lifetime as much as I do!

• Sunday we got up and headed out to church. We had a sweet conversation with our pastor afterward. We are so blessed to have such a humble, accessible, caring pastor. He congratulated us on our marriage, and gave us some wonderful advice and resources to move ahead with. Daniel and I both signed up for new Bible studies starting next month. We are very very excited to see what the Lord has in store! My sweet friend Jenn gave me an amazing wedding gift after church. I cannot wait to use it! We wrapped up the weekend with lunch at my parent's-our Sunday tradition-and then an afternoon of being lazy.

My wonderful present from Jenn...