Last night, around 1, I woke to hear Fuller talking in a frantic tone. I heard Damon’s reassuring voice, but really wasn’t sure. Then I thought it was just the TV, so I went to the bathroom for the sixth time. When I came out I realized it really was Fuller and Damon, so I went to investigate.

Apparently Fuller’s alarm clock had been turned on and went off around 1, scaring the poor boy awake. Damon had the situation under control, drying tears, reassuring Fuller it wouldn’t happen again, and putting Fuller back in the land of Nod.

This morning when I went to greet Fuller this morning, he was still fearful and had to recount the entire story for me. I guess now we have to make sure his alarm clock isn’t accidentally set, which will probably come before the goodnight kisses and hugs.

I want to thank Damon for putting into words just how special this pregnancy is to us. When he stood up in church to make our announcement he said something along the lines of how the blessings of Jesus are more important than football. I’m paraphrasing, and maybe I’m just writing what I wanted to hear, but really I am feeling so blessed by Jesus in this pregnancy. (And I say that while pushing down my heightened anxiety, a pregnancy symptom harder for me to ignore than morning sickness.)

Last week, during one of Fuller’s quiet times, I was resting on the couch watching Scrubs. It was an episode I had seen several times, but still special because it was the episode where Turk and Carla finally get pregnant. There are hi jinks involved in Carla finding out, but in the end there is a big scene where all their friends are gathered to hear the announcement and congratulate them.

And in the many, many times I have seen this episode, I never really paid attention to the song playing during the scene. It heard the words “I lift up my hands and I worship” and my ears perked up. Then the lyrics I heard were “It’s not that I’m worthy I thank you Jesus” and I guess my eyes got big because my favorite TV show was using a Christian rock band to support this wonderful scene celebrating new life.

We aren’t worthy for anything God gives us in our lives. It is just the reality of sin. But by the grace of God, here we are blessed with ten weeks of pregnancy and looking forward to a lifetime of love and care for a new little one. I thank you Jesus.

How do I speak of the indescribable to You
I will try to explain these feelings that are true
So looking to the sky I will sing and from my heart to You I bring

All of the words in all of my life that could never explain and never describe
All of my love, which is nothing to hide so I lift up my hands and I worship
I worship You

In your presence I forever choose to live
I will praise You for it’s all I have to give
So looking to the sky I will sing and from my heart to You I bring

All of the words in all of my life that could never explain and never describe
All of my love, which is nothing to hide so I lift up my hands and I worship

By Your grace You let me come talk to You
It’s not that I’m worthy I thank you Jesus
For the love that You have shown

All of the words in all of my life that could never explain and never describe
All of my love, which is nothing to hide so I lift up my hands and I worship

With all of the words in all of my life that could never explain and never describe
All of my love, which is nothing to hide so I lift up my hands and I worship
I worship You

Technorati Tags: Scrubs, Kutless, pregnancy, grace

On Tuesday Fuller and I took a trip to the Creative Discovery Museum. Fuller really, really enjoys the new Corner Clinic where he can “be doctor” and play with things like the x-ray lights and look up a gigantic nose with a mirror.

Fuller and I have been attending the downtown library’s Wednesday story time. It consists of several books being read (some with children participation), a short film, and a craft. This past Wednesday the theme was Superheros in Space, which was totally up Fuller’s alley.

After story time Fuller and I wander the shelves one through seven and pick out five books. I don’t know why five, I just decided that was a good number. It has been exciting to read to him and then later see him reading the book to himself. He remembers plot lines and key words or sounds. It warms my heart.

We won’t get to keep going on Wednesdays when Moms’ Group starts up again, but we are having fun right now.

Chattanooga is buzzing with Antiques Roadshow rolling into town this week. The official “Welcome to Chattanooga” event was on Thursday morning at the incline and I wanted to go to take pictures. I wasn’t prepared for Fuller’s attraction and pleas we ride the actual incline (or train, as Fuller called it) and he had quite the break down. After many speeches by local city officials and Antique Roadshow personalities, I bought the tickets and Fuller and I took a ride on America’s Most Amazing Mile.

I had never been up the incline before, so it was a fun experience for me too. But Fuller was amazed. He loved going up, he loved the pulleys, and he loved the popcorn in the gift shop.

It was such a fun week, even though it was tiring.

Not to be a poor sport or anything, but MAN, how cool was today’s announcement? For weeks, rumors that Volkswagen would be selecting Huntsville over Chattanooga have abounded. Let’s hear it for the underdogs!

After reading the breaking news at 11:00 AM, we realized we had just enough time to dash over to the Hunter Museum for the 11:30 official announcement. We’ve added a Flickr set, here. They even gave away gift bags afterwards.

Achtung Baby!

Secrets aren’t hard for me to keep. Unless it is something about me, myself, and I. I want to tell everyone every little detail. Maybe that is why blogging is such fun for me, because I just want to spill it all.

And then again, when I look over the archives of my blogs I see big spaces where details of our lives haven’t been splashed over the internet. Believe it or not, our family blog isn’t a true tell all because we simply don’t tell all.

Then when something happens we want to blog about but have to wait.. well, it makes it harder to write about because it seems like it happened so long ago. In fact we are six weeks passed when we found out and yet I have no real way of poetically announcing I am nine weeks pregnant.

Oh wait. I think I just did it.

It has been difficult to keep the secret, especially since we were surrounded by so much family on our vacation. But we prefer not to raise too many hopes and wait until we hear the heartbeat. And Tuesday morning we went to the doctor to check out the little one I carry.

It turned into a scary ultrasound because the doctor could not find the baby. He finally found it to the side and we all started thinking it was ectopic. We went to a hi-res ultrasound (thank you modern medicine) and learned I have tilting uterus and the baby (with very strong heartbeat) was in utero. Exactly where he/she should be!

I had to wait share the news here because really we prefer friends and family find out from us and not the blog. And today Damon shared the news with our church family (complete with football analogy and loud “Yahoo!”), so really how could I not blog about it now?

I have the journal entries from when I was pregnant with Fuller and I have been looking over them to remind myself of what I was thinking then…

We got our first glimpse of you on Monday afternoon and as your Daddy said, “It was historic.”

You are so cute with your little round shape that resembles the blob of Jello that fell on the counter top this morning. And your heartbeat was very… loud, I guess. It was 128 beats per minute. It has to get up to about 140, so start doing jumping jacks or something. That will get your heart rate up in no time.

Since we had a hi-res ultrasound, Baby Two looks more like a baby than a blob of jello. And it was nice to hear his/her heartbeat was perfect instead of making us jumpy like Fuller did. However, taking up shop on the side of my uterus and hiding wasn’t a great way to start the parent-child relationship, so I guess we have room to improve.

The countdown is on… February isn’t that far away.

While we were visiting Lake Martin, Damon busied himself with plenty of projects. His water canons were a big hit (best. dad. ever.), he installed wheels on his parents’ gate (best. son. ever.), and then he started planning his foray into the best. Uncle. ever. category.

As a kid, when Damon and his sister Vicki were at The Lake for two weeks in the summer, Albert (their dad) would set up a treasure hunt for the kids. This usually involved money and possibly diving to the bottom of the lake (a shallow part). Damon has probably told me in more detail, but I’ll spare you.

Damon decided it was time to bring the treasure hunt into this century and introduce it to Fuller, Nick, and Vivian. It stemmed from our Memorial Day present, a Garmin GPS. (What? You don’t give Memorial Day presents? You totally should.)

Damon and I picked up a nine piece puzzle from the dollar store and wrote a “secret message” on the back. We then wrapped each piece in saran wrap with an identifying symbol so the kids knew exactly what they were looking for.

Damon then attached each piece to nine different trees along the road.

Then he used the GPS to determine the lattitude and longitude of the clue and saved it in the GPS as “Clue One,” “Clue Two,” etc.

Damon planted an invitation to the kids in the mailbox. Getting the mail was a daily ritual for the kids, so Vivian (the only one who can read) was thrilled to find something in the mailbox for them.

The package contained a CD with a message from a mysterious looking man in the shadows. (The mysterious looking man looks like he needs a haircut.)

Soon after the message was played, the computer blew up.

Just joking. That only happens in the movies.

We took off in the golf cart and followed the GPS directions given by the lovely British woman trapped in the gadget. Vivian and Nick were having a grand time finding the clues and bringing them back to the golf cart. Fuller was moaning and groaning, and then threw up around clue four. Damon quickly drove Fuller back to the house while Vivian, Nick and I walked to clues 5, 6, and 7 which were all in the emergency landing area for medivac helicopters. We accidentally found clues 7 and 6 in the wrong order, but it didn’t matter. The kids were having fun!

After the nine clues were found, we ventured back to the house to put the clues together. It was rather easy for the big kids and soon they were looking at a picture of Diego.

Once they realized they had to put the puzzle upside down, it became clear. Or did it?

Turns out the message on the back was out on the lake, so we had to wait until Grandpa Albert came home and helped us go to the secret location of the treasure.

The treasure was found, the bag opened, and the loot distributed to the cousins. Candy, hats, kickboards, and some silly string were welcomed with open arms by the kids. Nick was constantly heard saying, “This is so much fun!” And Cool Uncle Damon enjoyed giving the kids an updated version of something he enjoyed as a kid.

Next year we will have to figure out how to top it.

Technorati Tags: Lake Martin, GPS, treasure hunt