A Servant's Heart

I am going to blog about something totally different today, something that I haven't talked about before on here. I'm sorry if I get too preachy, but it's been weighing on me for the last two days and I need to express me feelings here.

Probably about three or four years ago when I was working at a non-profit arts agency, I had the opportunity to follow up on a project we had funded at the local Council on Aging. This is an adult day care facility that provides stimulating activities and outings for the elderly with dementia and other memory loss problems. The funding we provided allowed the Council to hire an art teacher that specializes in mental illnesses for a six week art session. After they had completed the program, I visited the Council to see the art work and hear how the program had gone.
I was moved to tears as the administrator walked me down the halls where the paintings were beautifully framed and on display. Story after story of members who generally could not remember things, had a hard time speaking and couldn't write painted beautiful scenery and poignant events in their life and were able to narrate a caption to go along with the painting. One man painted a vase of his wife's favorite flowers. He said he gave her those same flowers every year for her birthday, but she had died a few years ago and these were the last ones he was able to give her. He even painted one in the vase wilting. The most touching story was from a lady who was diagnosed with a severe case of dementia. She hadn't spoken in almost a year and was living with her daughter. She painted a beautiful scene of the sky. When they asked her why she painted that, she actually began to speak! She told them that she had lost her house and everything that was in it to a hurricane the year before and it made her very sad. This was the view she used to see every morning from her house. It turned out she did not have dementia at all, she was just severely depressed! When her daughter came to pick her up and they told her what had happened, she started sobbing and was able to finally talk to her mom and get her the help she needed. All from a therapy art class!
I came back from that meeting energized about the job I was doing. Anytime anyone asked me exactly what our agency did, I excitedly told them the stories and showed copies of the paintings they had given to me.

Fast forward to my current job. I was thrilled when they decided that our company needed to get involved with the community and the people we served (we create software for nursing home and rehab facilities so that their therapists can provide the proper care their patients need) and that volunteering at the Council would be a good fit for us! I spoke to my supervisor about helping out with the program and shared with him my previous experience with the Council. He decided that I should coordinate the volunteer dates and recruit our employees. I went the first time, right around Christmas. It was such a touching and rewarding experience! We played games with the "club members" and I had the opportunity to sit with one of them and listen as she told me all about her daughter and her childhood. She smiled the whole time and kept asking when we were coming back. I thought for sure that when I got back to the office and shared my experience, it would excite the other employees and make them want to sign up. No such luck. It has been like pulling teeth to get volunteers. Every one I do get some to go they have a great time and want to go back, but it doesn't affect the others. If I do get them to sign up, they cancel on me the day of and I am short. I then either have to fill in myself, or beg other people to fill in. Today being one such event. I had one person cancel yesterday and another cancel this morning! It just proves to me the attitudes of the people I am surrounded by. Even though the president of our company expressed his passion for this program and it's importance, they just don't care. Their own agenda is just more important. We are even paying them for the time they are they!! They just can't inconvenience themselves for even just a few hours. Guess I should have offered Disney tickets.

Please Tell Me It's Just the Hormones!

There are wars, earthquakes and all kinds of natural disasters going on right now and what am I doing??

Crying in my office because Target no longer carries the cute Classic Pooh stuff I want for the baby's room!!

Seriously, someone slap me!!!

Drum Roll Please!!!

I have a daughter! We are so ecstatic!! It's the cutest thing to see DW's face every time he tells someone. I can't stop smiling! She was a little bugger and wouldn't let us see until the very end. I was so afraid the tech was going to give up. I moved to my left side, my right side, sat up, nothing would make her move the way we needed her too! I finally had to sit up on my elbows and squish her. Took an hour, but the tech finally found what we were looking for! At least my little girl is modest! She was down there so low that her little head was on my bladder! She liked the pillow! The tech said I could use the restroom as soon as she looked at my cervix, but 'Lil One would not allow that! As soon as she told us it was a girl, I gasped and started crying. DW too (though again he says he only "Popped a tear")! I just got a call from the doctors office and she told me the doctor examined the scans and said everything looked great and right on target! The tech showed us her heart yesterday and said it was nice and strong, 144 bpm! I have to go back today for my monthly visit since the insurance company will not allow you to have two visits in one day. So stupid! I'm hoping the doctor will go over the scans in more detail so I can hear the stats. I need to know these things!

Oh, almost forgot! We got the house too!! We will be moving in the middle of April!! I have a baby room!!!

This is the only picture of her face we could get. She kept hiding it with her little arm!


She has long fingers like her mommie!

Pink or Blue

The next time I post here, I will know if my little one is a boy or girl!! I am so excited. I am sitting here trying to get 32 oz. of water down. I'm really hoping the pain of a full bladder doesn't ruin the experiance. Did any one else have to drink that much? No one ever tells you these things! Doesn't really matter, I will finally know and I will be able to buy cute things and pick out a name and call it a _____ instead of it, and, and, and....! Can you tell I'm excited?!

Stress: It's a Beautiful Thing!

The countdown has begun! It's t-minus 6 days until we get to see the baby and find out what it is! I'm definitely hitting Target and Baby's-R-Us to start the registry madness as soon as we find out! I NEED to shop! I'm not typically a shopper (the bill at the end usually makes me week in the knees), but having these things, like a crib and stroller, make it more real.

Sunday our friends KB and BB joined us for church. They actually attend the same church, different campus, but they wanted to see what ours was like. It was so much fun to sit with friends and discuss the sermon after. The sermon was great, except for the part when they talked to a couple who found out their baby had died the day she was supposed to deliver. I lost it. I knew it was coming as soon as they started talking and I just wanted to bolt. Baby started kicking while they were talking. Like it was saying. "Don't worry, I'm still here Mommy!" I was sniffling pretty much the rest of the service. We got to go see a movie, Shutter Island (a must see) and lunch after. We always have so much fun with them!

Baby is kicking more and more now. I had two concerts this weekend and it kicked a LOT during the rehearsals before the concerts. Especially during the percussion parts!

The aforementioned stress comes from the house hunting saga. A town house went on the market Saturday evening, I called Monday and made and appointment to see it, and there was already another couple trying to make an offer Tuesday morning when I called to make an offer!! Now we are in a bidding contest. The realtor can't tell us what the other people are offering, we just have to take a stab in the dark. I hate this!!

Almost 5:00 (Thank the Lord!)

I am in such a fog today! I really haven't gotten much work done today because I am so tired! I didn't get to go to bed until late last night and my poor pregnant little body can't handle it. I only get about 5-5.5 hours of sleep usually and any less just leaves me grumpy!

On the house hunting front, I have decided to dump all the realtors and go it alone. It has gone great so far! I have looked up listings, made phone calls and have gotten us into four great houses. One realtor even gave me the lock box code and told me to just go myself since he couldn't get to the area anytime soon. It was so great to be able to walk around the house with DW and talk candidly about the issues we saw without a realtor following us around. I fell in love with the townhouse we saw yesterday. Wood floors downstairs, large bedrooms, beautiful kitchen with new appliances, huge bathrooms and a "lake" view. It's in our price range, but DW is worried about trying to sell it a few years down the road. It's only three bedrooms, so we would want to upgrade later on. We have one more place to look at tomorrow. I am kind of hopeful about this one, it's near the ocean. If not for the market being the way it is, this one would be waaaay out of our price range, but it's a short sale at an extremely reduced price. We will see. Trying not to get my hopes up.

While not working today, I decided to shop jogging strollers. I want to get back to running as soon as I can after the baby, so I am trying to find a jogging stroller that is safe for infants. I found two that look pretty good and don't cost too much.

This one from Baby Trend:

Or this Jeep Overland:

Both have the car seat conversion kit so you can use them for an infant. I found good reviews for both. Hopefully I can find it in one of my local stores so I can actually see them.

We are going to the fair tonight with my sister and some friends. I was never really a ride person before, so being pregnant won't put a damper on the fun for me. Can't wait to have a funnel cake though!

A Day for DW

I decided that since Valentine's Day lands smack in the middle of tax season, I was going to use this day to help DW unwind and feel special. I booked a couples massage for 6:00 in the evening. He loves them! I turned him on to it after I had to drag him to one last year. After that, he was hooked! The spa is right near the water, so I did a little research and found a park that was open after dark, on the water and had a great view of a lighthouse. Saturday I got up after DW left for work, went grocery shopping and settled in for an afternoon of cooking. It was crazy! In the midst of doing laundry and cleaning the house I baked a cake (from scratch!), made chocolate icing (also from scratch), chicken salad, tomato and mozzarella salad, hard boiled eggs, chocolate covered bananas, sparkling strawberry lemonade and iced and decorated the cake. I found a picnic basket I had been given as a wedding shower gift. I snuck it all in the car after DW came home and took a shower. I didn't tell DW about the massage until right before we were ready to leave. He was very excited. It was a lot different for me than the usual. I had to lay on my sides and she worked on me that way. Still so awesome! Then we left and I gave DW the directions to the "restaurant" we were going to eat at. He was kind of confused, but picked up on it as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. It was chilly, so I had snuck our coats in the car too. It was perfect! We had a private pavilion with a picnic table right on the water with an awesome view of the lighthouse! I had packed candles, but there was also enough lighting to be able to see our food but still romantic. We both really enjoyed the evening and I was happy I could make DW feel as special as he always makes me feel. He brought me home some gorgeous red roses and awesome gourmet chocolates. I also gave him a Florida Marlins onesie (his favorite team) which he says is what we are bringing the baby home in, boy or girl!