passed due

passing kiah's due date has led me to some very creative things:

ridding bikes

kari's SPICY "kiah pop out cookies"

giving into daddy-to-be cravings

walking, walking and more walking

laying out at angela's pool

long walk with kari and the strollers to dilworth coffee shop 

stephens craving for a DQ vanilla cone with sprinkles 

week 40 

trying to relax by the pool

HAPPY 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!! may 23

al

the day after tomorrow

      all along i have made "the due date" as the last possible day she might arrive. i have heard very few stories of babies coming late and a ton of stories of babies coming early. but now, here we are with tomorrow and then finally the next day with my next doctors appointment. i thought she would be here by now. so many people are coming up to me saying, "what! she hasn't come yet!" and i'm like, "ahhh look at me, does it look like i had my baby?" this morning though, i went walking with my friend lenia and she and her husband were the best. he came in and said hi to me. instead of saying something that made me feel like i was doing something wrong or that it was my fault the baby hadn't come yet, he said..."the next time i see you i am sure your gonna have the baby so congratulations." i am excited about long nights, long days and little rest. i am looking forward to every bit of it. i am looking forward to labor even. i am excited to see what God is going to do.

ice-cream and cookies

tina reading the treasure hunt clues

     tried walking to help the baby drop more, spent some time with Jesus on lenia's back porch, came home to my hubby, he made me a smoothie, showered, prepared for GIRLS NIGHT. i decided to just lead it since i might be out of commission after kaih comes and i felt like why not, it will help keep me busy. so i planned out a treasure hunt at the near by veterans park. the theme was being a princess in the kingdom of God. we brought about 15 girls and kids all over the park wanted to join in with us. the Lord put matthew 6:20-21 on my heart and i knew i just had to share it. "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." it was such a fun time at the park. after the treasure hunt the two teams gathered back to our picnic tables and we handed out bowls of cookies and ice-cream.

 i was pretty tired from all of that and was ready to come home, eat dinner and relax.

cinnamon rolls

this morning stephen and i started the morning off right.   6:30 am     lit my candles right away instead of being strong and toughing out the horrible smells that seep through the vents from the neighboring apartments that smell of rotten asian food and kitty litter. i just lit em up. then after stephen got out of his shower, he yelled down stairs, ARE YOU MAKING CINNAMON ROLLS?   i said no but i sure can. he said ok yeah yeah. so i popped those magically delicious Pillsbury/cinnabon rolls in the oven and only minutes late pulled out the ooey gooey pasteries. so good. 

stephen headed to eagles training and i headed to the shower to get ready for our girls weekly get together at kari's house. today jessica, kari and i made headbands for our little girls! they are so cute.

pregnant in heels

my dear friend kari gave me such a great word today,
     habakkuk 2:3 says,
the LORD replied,
     "for the revelation awaits an APPOINTED TIME;
  it speaks of the end and will not prove false.
    THOUGH IT LINGER, WAIT FOR IT;
  it certainly will come and will not delay."
WOW, i mean, seriously, WOW   --- this is the cry of my heart right now and to allow the sweet voice of Jesus to be heard really makes it so wonderful. Jesus is perfect in every way. the timing of kiah lily jackson's arrival will be the time that has been appointed all along.
    today the enemy has been trying so hard to distract and disturb stephen and i both. i have felt so busy today without actually having had done anything. i felt so bad for my hubby this moning. he woke up in bed beside me so sweetly telling me good morning and how much he loved me. he is such a morning person!!! he told me to keep sleeping and to stay in bed because he was getting up to pray and spend time with Jesus. i stayed in bed just a bit longer but felt so thirsty. i didn't want to disturb stephen but i had to go get some water. so i went down stairs and he wasn't there. i knew what had happened. he came back in and said that some boys missed the bus and he took them to school. so by then i could tell he was still left hungry for intimacy with Jesus. but he was having to get a few things done before practice. we got some cereal, but while we were in the kitchen we found some evidence from a rat that had gotten into a bag of bagels. that is always frustrating to talk about. but after moving past that, i went to open the pantry and a huge cockroach crawled down the door. AHHHH!!! YUCK! it was already a ruff morning. so stephen headed to practice and i headed to the gym. i did an hour on the elliptical while i watched a show called 'Pregnant in Heel' and watched a girl give birth at home. it was crazy. and kind of made me not so excited about the LABOR.     then, stephen called me and told me that while he was practicing his wallet and phone had gotten stolen from his car. his credit card had been used 11 times by the time he got to the bank and there happened to be a big wad of cash in it from the day before after someone paid him back for paying for their bills.   this was just all crashing down on this already tiring day. i had 2 things on my agenda for the day that i had to do, and both fell threw, kind of. i was supposed to pick up 2 kids early from school for an appointment but someone else had already gone to do it. then i was supposed to pick up another kids from his school that was much farther away and let out later to get him to the wednesday soccer practice. i drove all the way there, got in the car rider line extra early and the teacher comes out and tells me he rode the bus.  by the time i got home, i knew i couldn't just hangout outside with the kids, so i took little sofyia with me to the park to walk around and watch the boys practice. it was hot and gnats were everywhere, but it was better than being in birchcroft right then. we came home and i made hot dogs, baked beans and corn on the cob. i guess i was just craving a cook out. we been able to chill out but i think we just need to go to bed. we both want to shower so bad but we can't because leo, the maintenance man, worked on our shower and the glue stuff isn't dry. all and all, one more day closer to seeing kiah lily's face!

My "8 days away" Day

           woke up this morning with a much better attitude than yesterday. i had a doctors appointment in the afternoon and all morning i was so anxious and excited to hear what the doctor had to say i couldn't sit still. i was a cleaning machine. by the time a got my cleaning fix and showered, stephen and i met with our friends lauren and pete at chipotle for lunch. again, i was so excited i could barely eat. maybe it had to do with the fact that my stomach is running out of room to even contain much, but since i had woken up that night at 2:30am with feelings of contractions and a few days feeling the baby drop i was really imagining the doctor saying, "you need to be taking it really easy and as soon as u feel more let us know and head to the hospital." but nope.  she said i was 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced. people keep telling me that is a really good thing but i was not disappointed.   so i just went home and got things ready for the neighborhood GIRLS NIGHT that we host once a week for any girl who wants to come from the birchcroft. last night, was really special though. abby and caroline planned it and all week i had been asking if there was anything i could do anything to prepare for it. they kept telling me not to worry about a thing and they had it all under control. so they surprised me by making the night all about me and honoring me. it was so so so sweet. tina washed my feet in warm soapy water, mackenzie and tea da so rubbed lotion all over my feel and biak painted my toe nails. we played some really fun baby shower games where we had to taste test baby food and guess what it was and then the girls had to cut an estimated piece of string as big as they thought my belly was. we ate baby goldfish and cookie cake, sang a few worship songs and the girls all wrote letters to KIAH. it was so nice to not have to worry about anything and to enjoy hanging out with all the girls.

our front door

            but today, i have decided to not sit around waiting anymore!!! i woke up and went out for a nice 5 mile run down my normal route, taking a bathroom break at the 2 mile point starbucks and continued on my way home. it was really what i have been needing after the past couple days of just hanging around in the house waiting for something to happen. it also helps me to get out because somewhere along the way someone stops me to give me a compliment or ask how long i have. on this particular run, i was stopped by 3 people. a lady walking into starbucks told me that i look so cute, then a man getting into his car outside of his house asked if i was something like 8 months along...i laughed and said 8 days actually, then a lady walking her dog asked if it hurt to run with being pregnant and i told her no it's my favorite thing to do! i know God's timing is never too early and never too late and i am letting go of when this is all supposed to happen. God is great, and i have trusted him with my entire life; with my pregnancy, with my plans, with our money, with our time! it is all HIS and He is so worth trusting! so i continued on to go grocery shopping, where i parked as far away as i could to walk as long as possible and then i bought all the groceries that i thought i would want to have around when we get home from the hospital.

so ready

mother's day

today is mother's day!

    woke up wishing this baby girl would POP out already, thinking about a few things... kiah means: a new season, we decided on her middle name to be lily, and the Lord says that if he takes such good care of the lilies of the field, how much more will he take care of his children. so i feel like God was telling me this morning that kiah has destiny over her life to be provided for from such awesome heavenly places.

     even though i am 10 days away from my due date to officially become a mother, stephen surprised me with a mother's day present this morning.
a photo book without wedding pictures in it.
all morning we had the girls and guys banging on the door; even after we told them that we weren't leaving for church for at least an hour they just waited outside. we are definitely going to be needing to implement a sign on the door for when kiah is sleeping. we loaded up my car and stephens car with girls and headed to church.
after church i took leeza with me and my two faithful friends abby and angela to panera bread for lunch to talk about the things our pastor talked about in church. of course, i had to bring stephen home a treat!
        carrot cake cupcake

by the time i got home, stephen was leaving to take boys to play soccer in the rain at the park with corbin. it has been the best first mother's day and i don't even know if i am technically a mother yet.  

the bump

 august

not a worry in the world
 

found out we were pregnant oct 8

bigger

 

and bigger

cancun, mexico

charleston, sc 

girls get away with my best friend and my mom

april 28th

babymoon pics

thanks to our wonderful friends the davies, we were blessed with this beach house all to ourselves for 5 days and blessed by our other friends with a loaded visa gift card that we had saved from christmas time to take care of all our needs! thank you God for the time, the rest and your great presence!