Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

I think I might really believe that. Having a clean home is so important to me, and lately I have been humbled by not being able to clean my house. The dishes pile up, the dog hair on the carpet, the dirty clothes, the clean clothes crumpled in the laundry basket. It's out of hand. This week the church was blessed with a missions group from The Masters College who gave up their spring break and time with family to come to Jackson and serve us. And serve us they are!! They are so amazing. I have had my kitchen and bathroom cleaned, my car detailed, Chris' truck detailed (no small task) and tomorrow we get help packing. In the meantime, I was able to file a ton of paperwork and even give the dog a bath today! Now I won't feel so terrible when he is on our bed.

In other Buczinski news, we are moving!! Officially... well as official as anything in Jackson can be when it's based on someone else's verbal commitment. We are signing the lease this weekend. We will really miss our precious little studio. It is perfect for us, but not so perfect for us, a dog and a baby. The new place has TWO bedrooms! We don't even have one bedroom right now. I'm really hoping that I feel well enough to pack and unpack.

So all that say, we are very thankful. God continues to provide for all of our needs.

First Appointment

We had our first appointment with our midwife, Theresa Lurch. It was great! I really love the office and I really like Theresa so far as well. We were able to have our first ultrasound and see our little baby's heartbeat! It was really wonderful. I'm so thankful that baby is thriving. I found out that I have lost about 8 pounds so far and Theresa wasn't worried about this at all. I decided that despite the nausea I would not take any drugs to control it. I thought about it a lot and decided that if I am passionate about natural birth, I think I should be passionate about natural pregnancy too. In God's sovereignty anything could happen with our birth and pregnancy and things could end up totally different than I anticipate, but as far as I can control it, I want to stay away from any drugs. I am almost 9 weeks, so I'm hoping and praying that I only have a few more weeks of this left! Then life can get back to normal (somewhat).



I'm trying to convince Chris that we don't want to know the sex of the baby until they're born. I think it would be so exciting to wait! He is totally not on board on with this yet, but I have several weeks to convince him otherwise. As I was browsing the internet I decided that I'm not really that into gender specific things and would rather have the excitement of finding out the sex of our baby in the hospital room. Something about that is so wonderful to me. I'll keep you posted on what Chris decides!

Tomorrow Chris and I are going to Idaho for the day and we're going to run some errands and browse Target for baby items. We want to get a feel for what we like. I'm hoping that I can get through the day not being too sick. I'm very excited about going to Coldstone!

We aren't moving next week after all. The people are still holding our apartment for us, but we need to get someone into our place first because we are in a lease. Lots of people have come to see it and liked it, but I think because it's a studio they tend to get turned off by it.

Well, there's all my boring updates. I have been laying around more than I ever have, eating the worst possible foods, and I haven't done a dish for several weeks...too gross right now. Our little church is really putting Jesus on display in how they serve us right now. Today my friend Tiffany is coming over to help me clean. Praise the Lord for His people! I'm looking forward to visiting CA in a few weeks, camping in Moab, celebrating our 2nd anniversary, Hawaii, and Mom and Dad Buczinski coming into town in May. Lots to look forward to this spring and summer!

Baby Musings and Grumblings...

Well, I obviously haven't been very good at posting on here. The excitement about pregnancy quickly turned to constant nausea and I can hardly stand it. As I type Chris is driving around the west bank looking for something that I might want to eat. I just feel so awful! I cry a lot right now... mostly about feeling sick. I'm trying to find joy in the Lord and to be thankful for this time in life, but it's been a lot more difficult than I would have thought.

Lord willing, we are moving to a two bedroom place in a few weeks. There's still some issues that we have to pan out with the apartment we are in, but it looks like we'll be packing up pretty soon. I'm so excited about having more space and actually having a bedroom! It's super cute and it's right in the price range we were hoping for. I'm very thankful that there will be a missions team from TMC here during that time to help us move so I won't have to do too much on my own. It's just so hard to do things right now!

Some baby things I've been thinking about...
1. Should we vaccinate our baby?? Should we wait until they are older?
2. Talking about baby names a lot a week ago and now not so much
3. Throwing around the idea of putting red, gold and brown in the baby room. I decided I'm not into pink and blue for a room...or a baby theme at all.
4. Thinking about finding a used day bed and a trundle for the baby room for guests!
5. I won't have to go to the restaurant to work anymore!!!!!!!!
6. How on earth do I decide what things to register for???
7. Will baby sleep in our bed? for how long?
8. Setting aside 30 bucks a month for cloth diapers so I can have my dream and use Fuzzybuns.
9. How will I ever get through birth naturally??

Now mothers, I know it might be tempting to say, "Baby in the bed!! The nerve." or "CLOTH DIAPERS?? So naive." But refrain for now because I am in a fragile state. Though I would love to hear thoughts on some of those things.

Also, I've been having super weird dreams lately. Lots of dreams about my midwife who I haven't met yet. Last night in my dream her office manager chewed me out and last week I dreamt that I went to my first appointment in the grocery store and she was just awful. I just took a nap and dreamt that Martha Stewart went to my Bible Study and I was trying to find a way to ask her to do my baby shower. Then I woke up and was so excited that I have a mom and mom-like friends that seriously know how to throw amazing showers!!! Can't wait until August!

Rejoicing!!

I've been dying to post this somewhere, but wasn't quite ready for the dreaded Facebook announcement. So I thought I would post on my humble blog so all three of you who read this would know that I'm pregnant!!! Yay!!! We are so excited! There's still a few people that I couldn't get a hold of to tell on the phone, but hopefully I'll get a hold of them today. All the moms, dads, and siblings know already. We found out yesterday afternoon. Wednesday Dr. Trott told me that I would have to have another surgery on my mouth so my moms started planning a trip out here then it dawned on me that if I'm pregnant there won't be any surgery so I should figure that out soon so they don't book the trip. Sure enough, pregnant. Also sure enough, they still want to book the trip so we can be excited all together! I have to talk to Dr. Trott tomorrow and figure out what this means for my surgery, but I'm finding rest in God's sovereignty and knowing that conception is a miracle every time and God's hand is behind this. It may not have been my exact timing because of health concerns I've had lately, but I know that God is knitting together this baby in my womb that he knew before the foundations of the earth, so I'm pretty sure that He knows exactly what He's doing. It blows me away to think that before there was ever an earth or an Adam or an Eve, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were communing in perfect harmony and decided that in January 2010 (even though they are completely outside space and time) this tiny poppy-seed-size baby would form! It comforts me to think that He knows exactly what this baby's name will be, what the sex is, how they'll look, and if they'll have all their little parts. What a precious gift. Chris and I are truly blown away. Yesterday I was like a deer in the headlights all day, then I woke up excited to think that we are already parents to a tiny baby that we will get to meet this Fall! Yay!!!

Women are Emotional

I can totally understand where this women is coming from...well maybe not totally. But sometimes you just can't help but cry at the end of Elf...er I mean, at the end of a movie.

Doctors

A lot has been going on the past couple weeks! I got insurance January 1st and there were several things that I knew I needed to sort out with my health. One of those things was to get a growth cut out of my lip and let me tell you, it hurts! I've been on vicadin for 6 days straight and I cry whenever I eat or brush my teeth. I think by the end of this I will be a very skinny woman with terrible, terrible cavities. Last night I almost couldn't stand it anymore and I was just crying and praying and hoping something would change. Leslie sent me a bunch of verses to read through that would help me think of the Lord in the midst of physical pain and I'm excited to read those this morning.

I've also been dealing with some gastrointestinal issues for the last year and a half and went of gluten for most of 2009. I had to see a gastroenterologist for this and Chris and I have been driving back and forth to Idaho Falls for these appointments. The time with Chris has been really encouraging and we have had some great conversations sitting in the car with each other for hours. We are supposed to get the results back from those procedures by the end of this week. I'm looking forward to all of this being over!

It's been a struggle to not be able to work, to be drugged most of the day, and to not be able to talk (as much as I want to at least). But I'm learning to trust the Lord that this is only a season that He has for me and I can be faithful even in that. Sometimes I feel like I have squandered my time during this, and I'm sure that in a lot of ways I have, but I'm trying to remember that it's okay to rest. I have been able to get a ton of things done around the house and that's exciting! Mike and Debbie bought us new book shelves for Christmas and we've been getting those set up--they look SO great! I've been obsessively cleaning house and I even organized all our paper work and files. This was no small task. I love it when Chris comes home and I have company again...not that Frazier isn't good company. I'm trying to make nice dinners for him then I eat mac and cheese or a smoothie because I can't really chew. Tonight I'm making an elk roast! I hope it turns out okay.

1000 Graces

Seeing that it's Monday, I'll continue my thankfulness list!

5. I'm thankful that God has no wrath towards me!

6. I'm thankful that God asks us to do things his way, and then he lets us experience joy and contentment in doing things his way.

7. I'm thankful that Chris does the dishes

8. I'm thankful that all the doctors I've had to see lately are covered under my insurance.

9. I'm thankful that we live in Jackson

10. I'm thankful that I get to spend the day with Chris