Our Trip to Memphis

This past Saturday, April 28th, 2012, after my Weight Watchers meeting, Jon had invited me to join him and his student on their trip to Memphis, TN. Many Saturdays I spend by myself, because Jon is off on a trip or working with student's in the area. This was a special treat for me to be able to go with him! This was a special flight for Olivia too! She has never ridden in an airplane before and we were excited to take her up for a ride!

Jon and I flew to Memphis, TN with Jon's LeTourneau student, Austin. Austin is graduating next week and working hard to get all of his flights completed before graduation. We even had to opportunity to meet Austin's parents while we were in Memphis. Austin's Dad flies for FedEx, so dinner was filled with a lot of aviation talk.

Thankfully, I was able to talk with Austin's Mom Cheryl, who has been a pilot's wife for over 20 years. I was so encouraged by my conversation with her!! We talked about what it's like to be a pilot's wife and she shared with me about how their family managed while Austin's Dad was gone flying around the world. It truly was a gift from the Lord that I was able to go on this trip with Jon and Austin!

I am so thankful that God knew just what I needed!!

Here are some pictures from our trip.

Catching Fire was my book of choice for our trip!

Jon getting ready for our flight with his student.

This was Olivia's first time to fly in an airplane!!

It was a beautiful day for flying!

I'm in the plane and ready for take off!

The airplane controls.

The guys going through our pre-flight checklist to make sure that we were ready for take off.

I've got my headphones on and am ready to go!

We are in the air and on our way to Memphis, TN.

The guys preparing for us to land in Memphis.

There is the runway in Memphis. Can you see it?

Apparently, Memphis is the big headquarters for FedEx. There were tons of FedEx planes at the airport.

We parked the plane at Wilson Air Center and then went out to dinner with Austin's parents.

We ate dinner with Austin's parents in downtown Memphis at Pearl's Oyster House. It was so good!

This is the only night picture that I took while we were leaving Memphis on our way back to Gregg County.

Pregnancy Highlights: 22 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights  

How Far Along: 22 weeks 3 days   

Size of Baby Newsham: Our baby is as big as a papaya or 8 in, 1.2 lbs. 

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Maternity Clothes: Yes, I am going to be in maternity clothes until Olivia arrives. However, God provided more maternity clothes for me this week! A friend could not fit into some maternity clothes that she received, so she passed them on to me! Praise the Lord for providing just what I need and more! 

Gender: Girl 

Name: Olivia Jane 

Getting Ready: I told you about this on Monday in my blog post, but this week Jon and I finally had time to go to Target and create our baby registry for Olivia! Click here to check out our Baby Registry at Target.

 

Movement: Olivia continues to move around like crazy! I love feeling her move.    

Sleep: I have slept very well this week. I am more tired than I have been in the last few weeks, but I am just trying to sleep when I am tired.   

What I Miss: I don't miss anything this week. I really enjoy being pregnant!   

Best Moment of the Week: The best moment this week was when Jon was finally able to feel Olivia move around. He's been traveling so much that he has not been home to feel her move. However, this week he has been able to feel her move on more than one occasion!! She loves her Daddy and I am so glad that he is able to feel here kick now!   

Food Cravings: This week I was craving snow cones! Thankfully, after we finished our baby registry Jon took me to get a snow cone. I got a small wedding cake flavored snow cone. It was so good!! I think that I will be a frequent visitor of the snow cone stands in town until Olivia arrives.    

Symptoms: I've been feeling great! My back was hurting, because I sit for such long periods of time. However, I am trying to go on walks during my lunch break and that has been helping.   

Due Date: August 28, 2012   

Next Dr. Appointment: Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012 at 2:30pm 

Daddy: Olivia and I love Jon so much! We are so thankful for everything that he does to provide for us.

Prayer Requests: Please continue to keep our little family in your prayers. Please pray specifically that I (Jennifer) will receive approval to work from home. Also, pray that we will continue to cling to the Lord throughout these next few months as we transition into parenthood.

This picture is for my Father-in-Law, who wishes I posted more picture with my face showing.

Wordless Wednesday: Our Daily Bread

Our Very Baby Weekend

{Saturday}

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This weekend Jon and I finally had time to go to Target and create our baby registry for Olivia! Overall, that experience was slightly overwhelming. I am glad that I was able to get advice from my sisters and friends in advance before we created our registry. Thankfully, we went to Target with a good idea about what we wanted to add to our registry.

We had a lot of decisions to make about what we wanted. However, I think that it went very well. Now that I have had a chance to go back and look at it again, there are a few things that we forgot about but I can add them on later.

Click here to check out our Baby Registry at Target.

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{Sunday} 

 Sunday I hosted a Baby shower with three other ladies for my friend Elise! All weekend we were busy preparing for her vintage sports themed Baby shower. Saturday night, Becky and I were up very late working on football, baseball, and basketball chocolate covered strawberries. They aren't the best, but you get the general idea.

 

Baseball and Football Chocolate Covered Strawberries

 After all of our hard work and preparation the Baby shower was amazing! Elise had a great time and received such wonderful gifts for her little boy that is on the way! 

Jon was at the baby shower too and he got some good practice loving on the babies!

Pregnancy Highlights: 21 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights  

How Far Along: 21 weeks 3 days  

Size of Baby Newsham: Our baby is as big as a spaghetti squash or 8 in, 1 lbs. Did you read that? Olivia now weighs about 1 pound!!
 

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Maternity Clothes: Yes!  

Gender: Girl

Names: Olivia Jane

Getting Ready: Our plan for the last few weeks has been to create our baby registries, however we have not been able to do this with Jon's work schedule. Hopefully, this week we will be able to get at least one of our two registries done.

Movement: Olivia is moving around a lot! Jon has not been able to feel her yet, because when he is home she is sleeping. Hopefully, this week Jon will be able to feel Olivia kicking.  

Sleep: It's been a weird week and sleep has been hard to come by. It's a good thing that I am in my second trimester when the fatigue has subsided, otherwise I would be taking naps at my desk!  

What I Miss: Many of the ladies that I work with at both Weight Watchers and LeTourneau University, will not let me pick up or move anything. I appreciate that they are looking out for Olivia and I. However, I am looking forward to being able to lift things again after August!

Best Moment of the Week: The best moment of the week came yesterday when we welcomed a new member to our family!!

Kaydence Grace Eccleston was born on April 19, 2012 at 1:57pm. She weighs 7 lbs 15 oz and is 20 inches long. Both Mom and baby are doing very well!!

Please pray for Daniel, Vivian, Kenneth, and Kaydence as they adjust to being a family of four.

Food Cravings: My cravings haven't changed since last week.  

Symptoms: The main pregnancy symptoms that I am experiencing is still back pain and my growing belly!

Due Date: Tuesday, August 28, 2012  

Next Dr. Appointment: Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 at 3:45pm   

Daddy: Last week, Jon was gone for about 5 days. He was not supposed to be gone that long. However, plane trouble got him stuck in Ohio over the weekend. It was hard for Jon to be gone that long and I am so glad that he is finally home again!!

Prayer Requests: There are some major changes taking place in our lives right now, and I am not just talking about Olivia. Please pray that Jon and I will be able to discern what it is that the Lord wants us to do over these next few months. Please pray that we will have God peace as we continue to walk daily in His will. Please pray that above anything else, God would be glorified in our lives.

Talking to God

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“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” - Hebrews 4:14-16

For most of my life, my mother had the privilege of being a stay at home Mom. I am the oldest of five kids, so as you can only imagine, Mom had her hands full taking care of the five of us and my Dad. However, my Mom was very good at taking care of us.

Unfortunately, when I was a freshman in high school our family’s finances become very tight and my Mom had to go back to work. My mother was willing to do what was necessary to help pay the bills. However, it was very challenging for me and my siblings to adjust to this new way of life. It was hard to accept that Mom’s focus was not just on us, because she had to worry about work as well.

The battle for Mom’s attention had begun.

My siblings and I would fight for my mother’s attention during the very limited hours that she was home. Not only that, but my Dad wanted to spend time with her too! I remember getting so upset, because all I wanted was to be able to talk with my Mom. I wanted her full and undivided attention so that I could talk with her about my day. However, that rarely happened. More often than not, someone would interrupt me while I was talking to Mom with something that was more pressing than my story. Mom’s attention would shift from me to them and I would get upset and frustrated, because I was never able to finish my story.

Over the years, God has been teaching me that I can come to Him about anything. God desires to meet my every need.

This week in church our interim pastor shared wonderful news with us. Pastor Vic Taylor told us that God wants us to talk to Him! Pastor Vic went on to tell us that God has given us an open invitation to talk with Him anytime, anyplace. Pastor Vic referenced the verse above about how, as Christians, we can boldly approach God’s throne, because God has given us an invitation to come to Him!

Did you hear that!? God wants to listen to us! He wants to listen to me talk about anything and everything!

My Mom is human and does not have time to listen to me and me alone. However, it is extremely comforting to know that God is there to listen to me all the time!

This week I am going to try to talk to God more. I want to take advantage of the presence of God in my life, because more often than not I forget that God's there.

Have you ever felt like this? Do you understand what I am talking about?

Take time this week to talk to God. Take Him up on the invitation that He’s given you to come into His presence. He wants to listen to what you have to say!

Wordless Wednesday: Ultrasound Pictures

This is a mostly Wordless Wednesday. Here are pictures from the day that we found out that we are having a baby girl!!

This is the morning of our ultrasound. Are we having a baby boy or girl?

Jon and I both thought we were having a baby girl.

Jon and I were so excited that we were going to see our baby!

This is Jon on the phone tell his parents, Josh, and Hannah that we are having a girl!

It's a GIRL!!

Here is Olivia's profile. You can see her head, nose, mouth, and more!

Here are Olivia's feet!

Here is Olivia's hand.

Here are some 4D pictures of Olivia.

Olivia liked being curled up in a ball and in this picture she made no exception leaving her feet in front of her face.

Olivia Jane Newsham

Jon trying to choose his favorite picture of Olivia.

Jon and Olivia

Me and Olivia...we are kind of inseparable.

Jon, Olivia, and Me

We cannot wait to hold little Olivia in our arms!!

Pregnancy Highlights: 20 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights  

How Far Along: 20 weeks 3 days   

Size of Baby Newsham: Our baby is as long as a banana or 7 in, 11 oz.

  
Maternity Clothes: I am still in that in between stage of my pregnancy. I am not big enough to fit into maternity pants, but I am too big for my own clothes. So, I will continue to use my Be Band until my belly gets significantly larger.   

Gender: Girl 

Name: Olivia Jane

Many people have asked us what Olivia Jane means, so let me break it down for you.

Olivia means olive tree. The biblical meaning for Olivia the olive tree which is a symbol of fruitfulness, beauty, and dignity. 

Jane means God is Gracious.  

Getting Ready: Jon and I have been doing a lot this week to get ready for Olivia's arrival. Last Friday and Saturday, we had a garage sale with our friend's house. We were able to sell all of the junk that has been taking up space in our second bedroom. We sold so much on Friday that we had to go through our house again to see if we had more to sell on Saturday! This was such an answer to my prayers! We are so thankful for the way God provided for us, because in all we made almost $300.00!

My friend, Becky, also gave us boxes of baby stuff! I was able to go through these boxes and pick out what I want to use for Olivia. We still do not have everything that we need for Olivia, but we are off to a great start. Thank you so much Becky for generously letting us use these baby supplies!

Boxes of baby stuff from Becky.

Movement: Olivia continues to move around like crazy! I absolutely love feeling her move inside me. To be honest, I thought that this would creep me out, but it doesn't. It is so special to be able to feel her move before anyone else. I cannot wait for Jon to be able to feel her move too!   

Sleep: The garage sale wore Jon and I out! We had such a busy Easter weekend, that I feel like I have been trying to recover ever since. I have been going to bed early, because I am so exhausted. It will be nice to catch up on my sleep and feel like myself again.   

What I Miss: What I miss is being able to get up and get ready quickly. I have never been the type of woman that takes forever to get ready in the morning. I used to pick out an outfit and that was that. Not anymore! Now it takes me forever to decide on an outfit in the morning. Part of it has to do with my insecurities about my changing body and part of it has to do with nothing fitting me right anymore! I hope things go back to normal after Olivia gets here.  

Best Moment of the Week: The best moment this week was on Thursday, April 5th. I was able to Skype with my Dad on his birthday! It was so much fun being able to talk with Dad, Vivian, Daniel, Bobbi, Brayden, Kenneth, and Lucas. I was able to show Dad my baby belly and pictures of Olivia, because he does not get online very often. I did not want our time together to end. After we said our goodbyes I closed my computer and cried. I am so thankful that I was able to spend time with my family like that!! 

Food Cravings: My food cravings have not changed. I am still craving hamburgers, cheese, proteins, and snow cones. However, there isn't anything this past week that I have had an overwhelming urge to eat.

Symptoms: My growing baby belly. My back pain, especially when I am at work sitting for long periods of time. 

Due Date: August 28, 2012   

Next Dr. Appointment: Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 at 3:45pm   

Daddy: Jon as always is incredible! He was home last weekend to help me with the garage sale. I do not think I would have been able to do the garage sale without him. This week, Jon also bought me a maple bar on Easter morning just because he knows how much I love them! It was so good!!

The maple bar Jon bought me for Easter.

 Prayer Requests: Please continue to pray that God will provide everything we need for Olivia. Pray that God would continue to provide any and all maternity clothes that I need throughout the next 20 weeks.

Also, please pray for our sisters, Vivian and Rachel, who are both due to have babies this month! Pray that God would keep both Moms and babies safe throughout labor and delivery. Pray that there are no complications. Above all pray that God receives glory through these new lives that are going to be brought into this world.