The Fanning Four

The belly touching has started- I don't mind too much unless it's a complete stranger. I must be getting bigger though because way more people feel compelled to give my belly a rub and complete strangers make comments about my obvious pregnant state. Here's the latest pics from 24 weeks 2 days:

Well, the last two weeks have seen much progress in making room for baby Bethany! Tom has worked diligently to help get the room ready for her. This involved doing some major rearranging/cleaning in the garage to make room for the guest room furniture so that the guest room could become Bethany's room. On top of getting ready for Bethany, we are so fulfilled by the other activities in our life. We lead the young adult group at our church and were so happy to have 15 people there last night (including two new people). We have seen so much growth since we started and are so excited to see the work God is doing. I have also started a new sixth grade girls' small group and can't express my excitement to be back with middle schoolers (I'm a youth ministry addict for sure!). What does it say about me that I'm 27 years old and some of my favorite people in the world are middle schoolers?!?! Boy bands, make up, shopping trips to the mall, high pitched laughter, and a chance...

We had a doctor's appointment on Monday and it went well. We have now seen all the doctors and the midwife in the pracitce (any one of of them could be the one on call for Bethany's birthday!). We have our favorites but I trust all of them to do a good job taking care of us during the delivery. Everything looked good and the heartbeat was strong. It is always so reassuring to hear her heart beating!! But also reassuring on a daily basis are her little kicks. I started feeling them almost a month ago and they have just been getting stronger and more frequent since then. She seems to kick the most when I'm about to eat a meal (she gets excited cause it's food time), when I'm playing my oboe or at orchestra rehearsal (that's my little oboe prodigy!), or when I am trying to go to sleep (she's thinking, "Hey! Why aren't we moving anymore?"). No matter what the reason for her movements- I love them!!! On another note, I have been having a very strong...

"Love is the answer at least for most of the questions in my heart, like Why are we here? And where do we go?And how come it's so hard? It's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving. I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together". I love the lyrics to Jack Johnson's song, Better Together because it addresses an issue that is close to my heart- "questions" . My greatest emotional and spiritual struggle in life is worry and with worry comes many difficult questions. In fact, these questions at times have caused great distress in my life as I struggled with the what ifs, whys, whens, and hows of life. Miraculously my worries have not consumed me during this pregnancy but I still find myself asking many questions and like this songs says, love is the answer for most of these. Will I be a good mom? Love is the answer Will she know her Creator? Love is the answer How will our marriage fare in the adventure of parenthoo...

It's kind of like when you graduate from High School.... The questions are always the same: Where are you going to college? What is your major? What career do you want? You find yourself answering the same questions over and over and wish you had a shirt that listed the answers so you could stop feeling like a broken record. This is also true when people know you're expecting a baby: When is the baby due? Do you know what gender it is? What's the name going to be? How are you feeling? Not that I mind dishing out the answers (what proud mom doesn't?!?). But I figured I'd create a blog so I can answer all your questions, share the latest news, and post pictures. So, to start: August 9th (but we're hoping for 8-8-08), it's a girl!!!, her name is Bethany Grace, and I feel great!!! Here's me at 14 weeks: Here's baby Bethany: And here's her room (in progress):