Isaac & Jessica Lowe!

I am very happy to announce my newest sister, Jessica Lowe!! We spent an action packed weekend at the end of March in Nacogdoches, Texas celebrating Ben’s brother Isaac and his new bride Jessica.

Isaac and Jessica at their Rehearsal Dinner

Chosen brides of the Lowe brothers : )

Grandmother, Aunties, and Mother of the Groom

Cake Time!

Strange family tie-dress matching contest at reception : )

Off to HoneymoonLand!

We love you and are so happy for you two, and pray blessings as you begin your new life together!

Round Top Girls Weekend!

Mom and I celebrated her birthday with a weekend of hunting for treasures at the Spring Antique Show in Round Top, Texas. We had so much fun! We came back with a huge armoire, the pieces to construct a cute room divider, plants, a garden ornament, lovely soap from The Soap Lady, and fun Easter folk art decor!

Channing met us on Saturday for some moral support and to keep us company. I got the REAL story on how she and Jake “hooked it up” as we shared smoothies and rested our feet a bit from all that shopping!

Baby’s first picture

We will know May 18th if this is “Hannah Elisabeth” or “Isaiah Benjamin!”

Nikos Spring Retreat ’09 Video

Ben put together this cool summary of the good times we had! Check it out:

Nikos Spring Retreat ’09: Running the Race God set out for us

The camp formerly known as “MUDD camp” stood true to it’s old name! Our camping grounds, Pole Cat Hollow, have come a long way in development since that first MUDD camp – but the weather traditionally provides some mud just before the Spring Retreat for making memories and messes.

Thank you to all who prayed about the cold and rainy weather! God was certainly in control and had all just as He wanted. Because of the weather on Friday night and Saturday morning, we saw a significant turn-over with our registration list as we picked children up from different spots. This made logistics a bit more challenging as our campers arrived. But God allowed us to have all the kids assigned to groups before they pulled in, making their welcome moments more smooth and less stressed as their group leaders came right up to the bus, van, and car doors to kick off the weekend together. We only had one sprinkle shower on Sunday morning and even had a little sunshine on Monday!

This retreat included MP’s very first ever Nikos Olympic Closing Ceremony! We had fun with the Olympic theme by having the children perform for an audience from Grace Covenant Church on Sunday night. They learned a movement routine to the catchy song “Final Countdown” choreographed by Caron Gibson and coached by Leece Naxera during their activity rotation. The kids enjoyed being in the spot light, and smiled as their four groups rotated on Pole Cat’s new track. (We are working on getting the video up on our website for you to see!)

I wish you could’ve heard the children’s voices as they declared our theme verse together: “Since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd, watching our life of faith, let’s throw off everything that slows us down and the sin that so easily trips us up, and run with perseverance the race God set out for us! Hebrews 12:1” (Nikos version)

To close the ceremony, we handed out “gold medals” to the children based on team achievements and sang a marathon of Nikos Camp Songs together.

We praise God for everyone who came out to help prep and serve meals, run activities, serve as group leaders and adult staff, and for those who covered us in prayer! May God have his way with our hearts as He calls the ones He has in mind to continue in relationship with the little ones that came to this retreat!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We were so thankful to have the whole family together to celebrate Dad’s birthday last night. My brother Jacob just left today for National Guard Leadership Training in Oklahoma for 7 weeks. After OK, he and his lovely wife Channing will move to Arizona for 4 months for Army Intelligence specific training. We will miss having him around! By the time Jacob is all trained up, we will be just one month away from meeting our new baby…!

Mom made a killer birthday cake, and we ended the night with a Boggle session. Ben blew us all away, finding words like “lichen” and “plague”! Dad and I are good at finding all the little words and plural versions, and Mom is the designated “spoiler” who finds a bit of everybody’s list. Bobby even joined in and added a little imagination with the scorekeeping and finding words from Lord of The Rings, like “Ent.” : )

Love my Belly Book!

Okay, so it’s 6 am and I can’t go back to sleep. I think God has funny ways of preparing new mommies for little babies… running to the potty 4 times during the night and being more comfortable OUT of bed than in will prep any girl to be up several times a night with a little one!

I found this great pregnancy journal last week called The Belly Book! It’s a cross between a baby book and a journal. It’s like the baby book before the baby – The Belly Book. : ) Anyway, there’s great places to scribble all the details of my pregnancy from the necessary naps of the first trimester to the footprints of the baby in the hospital.

Right now just the WORD “chicken” makes me want to barf! (Or the sight of deli meat…) ugh. Praise God I have not experienced any morning sickness at all yet! I’m so thankful because work is as busy as ever, planning for our up-coming retreat March 13 – 16, and spending time with children 6 days a week on my busiest weeks. We borrowed a cot from my parents and set it up in my office so I can just close the door and lay down when it’s nap time – no joke!

My nails are growing beautifully (I think it’s all those vitamins) and I’ve invested in Cocoa Butter Lotion. (In bulk from SAMS) My mommy friends warned me it’s a must! I’ve found Saltine crackers to be the best medicine for all kinds of things: Queasy tummy, heart burn, car sickness, empty morning tummy… need I go on?

I’ve just recently started “showing” but still fit into my jeans. I’m told this will not last long. Sweet Ben is already taking the belly pictures each time we feel the need. We’ll go in for our first sonogram on March 26th to hear the baby’s heart beat…. What a miracle!