growing...

15 weeks

18 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks


OK, it may seem weird to see my tummy splashed all over this post, but for my family, it will be interesting...cuz they haven't seen my body changing. Baby and I have been together for 20 weeks now. I am slowly beginning to realise when baby is moving and when it is just a gas bubble! ;-) Baby likes daddy A LOT!! Whenever he is around I feel movement. It is still not too distinct, like an arm or a leg, but it is movement. I was quite stressed at work the other day running around trying to get a report out by 5:30. At one point I leaned over my desk and was clicking around on the computer until my report had finished running on another PC, and with my tummy suspended in mid-air, I felt 'somersaults' and a bit of a circus going on in there. I stopped and put my hand on my tummy and my workmates asked if I was ok. I told them the baby was moving...they thought it was cool. We ooh-ed and aw-ed over it for about 5 seconds and got back to work! ;-) I am excited to start feeling movement. Our next scan is in a few more weeks. It will be so nice to see baby again. We miss her/him. Am starting to get a few more aches and pains here and there. (Like hips and tailbone!?) I caught a reflection of myself in a window as we were out the other day, and started laughing! It was so funny...I have a big bubble behind and a big bubble in front...Tico says it is to keep me balanced, otherwise I might fall over! He is so positive!!! ha! I like the bubble in front but the one behind, well, I am just glad it is behind and I don't have to look at it! ha!! (and it does make for comfy sitting!)

This is a fun adventure. We are so thankful for this path God chose for us. It is a blessing we are grateful for.

recipes that go good with coffee....yum!

I recently got a chain-letter type email asking for me to send a recipe to 20 people...well, it was quite confusing as to who actually sent me the email...so I kind of dropped it in the trash....oops!

But there is a nice recipe I recently found in a cook book I have. It is sooo easy and really yummy. I made it one day cuz I was craving something sweet...and then the next day it had completely disappeared by the time I arrived home from work...I think it was a hit at home! ;-)

It's from a Longabergers' recipe book:

APPLE TORTE

1 cup sugar

4 T. butter

1 egg

1 cup flour

1 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. nutmeg

2 cups chopped apples or a little more

1 t. vanilla

Cream sugar and butter together with mixer. Beat in egg. Sift dry ingredients together and add to cream mixture. Stir in apples and vanilla. Bake at 350F (180C) for 35 to 40 min. Serve with whipped cream.

My most famous recipe...one which is ALWAYS a hit...is one I got from my neighbor several years ago for banana bread. I am sure she got it from a cookbook...but I just call it Rima's Banana Bread, cuz I don't know where she got it from.

1 2/3 c. sugar

2/3 c. veg. oil

2 eggs

1/3 c. buttermilk (I never have buttermilk so I use milk with about 1 T. white vinegar)
1 1/2 t. baking soda

1 1/2 t. baking powder

2 1/2 c. flour

1/2 t. salt

1 1/2 c. mashed bananas (or 3 large)

opt - 2 c. chopped nuts

Cream together sugar, veg. oil and eggs until light and fluffy. Add buttermilk and baking soda and mix well. Add baking powder, flour and salt, mix well. Add bananas and nuts. (or do what I do and just throw everything together and mix well all at one time!) Pour into greased and floured 5x9 inch loaf pan. Bake at 375F (190C) for 1 hour. (I usually bake for 20 minutes uncovered and then cover it for the rest of the time so it doesn't get too black on top).

It is extremely moist and delicious! Great with coffee for breakfast...or at any time of the day or night!

Enjoy!!

travelling...

Heading to London for Tico to play in the church.

The famous underground (train)

pizza with friends...

friends from our church in London....

Tico playing at church (my camera isn't great for long distance)

...the musicians all sweaty after the service...they played their hearts out!

loved traveling with my hubby to London...even more than I love chocolate!!!

Entertaining ourselves in the airport....while the plane was delayed!!

The plane arrives and we head home....happy!!

there may be crying for the night....but JOY comes in the morning light!

Dad with his beautiful bride...

me with my beautiful groom and the father of my growing 'blessing'...

I am sure that there's a bible verse that says that. I am quite convinced that blessings are even more treasured after a time of suffering or loss. When one loses something special or experiences a time of pain, and passes through the 'valley', then the mountain becomes even sunnier and more beautiful. At least, I think that is the way God intended it to be. Maybe that is why salvation seems even more wonderful after you realise what an awful sinner you are and how much you don't deserve what you got in Christ. If you think you are pretty 'OK' on your own merits, then the message of the cross is a 'pity' at the very least and an 'injustice' at most! But if you have found yourself lost or without hope and then God breaks in on your life, you are very unlikely to ever be the same. Your days will be filled with thanksgiving, your afternoons with praise and your evenings with peace.

If you were without food, you will appreciate food so much more when you finally get it. If you were starved of love, you will lap it up when it comes pouring in. If you were lonely and alone, you will radiate in the warmth of another's company.

Maybe that is why I see such joy in my father's face when I see his wedding pictures...more than the fact of 2 friends becoming 1 flesh...it marks the end of an era of suffering in his life....and in hers. It is like spring after winter....the cold dry ground breaks open with signs of life which we almost thought would never appear again. Maybe that's why I count every day a blessing with this little one growing in my womb. Like Hannah who prayed and cried before God, I also wanted to know the blessing of motherhood for many years. How many tears did I cry...how many prayers did I pray...only God knows. But in HIS time, after the suffering had ended, he showered me with amazing blessings...way beyond what I could have ever imagined when I prayed all those prayers in the past. So even in my 'pain' of morning sickness or the 'stress' of a bulging belly...I count it all joy...cuz I have walked the journey that took me through the valley. God is good and his love endures forever. His ways are past finding out (understanding). He has a plan that is beyond what we see in our little 'screen print' of the here and now. But contentment is one of the hardest things to master. St Paul said he had mastered it...how to be content in times of blessing and in times of loss...how to be content when full or when empty. I think it is all too easy to look at things we don't have right NOW that we want to have....and feel unhappy. But remember where you came from...look back over life's journey from time to time and count your many blessings. Remember the hard times only long enough to make the present times shine even brighter. Remember what you lost only long enough to make what you've gained more brilliant. Thank God for his salvation, his provision, his treasures, his blessings EVERY DAY! HE deserves our thanks...He is sooo good!

the unusual wedding....

Setting off...

After all these years....I still say YES!!

the happy bride...

the beautiful couple...

my mom-in-law with her mom....special ladies!!!

Let me tell you a story...

It's about a Brazilian farmer's daughter. Born on a farm, she lived happily with her parents, lovely siblings and was a fun-loving, beautiful girl. Then along came a guy from the city to spend a few days on the farm. He was struck with this beautiful, slim, happy specimen and couldn't resist asking her to be his wife. They were married almost immediately and he swept her off her feet! The ceremony was simple and didn't have much of the traditional bits in it, except for lots of love and good wishes!

Fast forward about 5 decades and 8 kids (and who-knows-how-many grandkids) later. One daughter falls in love and makes a nest with her man. They have children and then the adventure bug bites and off they go to the other side of the world. Time passes and this union meets seemingly insurmountable problems. They separate and the family is shattered. Looking un-repairable...a mother's prayers still fight at the mercy seat. The God who loves to do much more than we can imagine, pulls a few strings, orchestrates a few circumstances and amazingly, the couple reunite (much to the joy of their kids!!). Wanting to establish their union with God's blessing, they decide to do something they had never done...get married!!!

But they are on the other side of the world and they don't have citizen's rights in this new country...what can be done?!?

Then a solution is found! They just need 'representatives' who can stand in for them and the ceremony can take place in their own home country even in their absence. And who better to represent them than her parents. Now the simple dream of the farmer's daughter was always to have a traditional wedding, a beautiful white gown, flowers...but all those decades ago, circumstances didn't allow it. But now...with the opportunity arising to go and represent her daughter at the Justice of the Peace...her dream is about to come true! Her children, grandchildren and friends arrange for her dress and flowers and the beautiful bride has her dream come true. With the same man she started out with almost 50 years ago by her side...the bride, dressed in white, heads off to court. The bride and groom in this story are my husband's grandparents. I loved the story and thought you would too....

for those of you who wanted to see a visual of the below story...

We finally got around to saving Tico's photos from his cell onto the computer...so here's the great adventurer...MY HERO!!!

wow...I am so blessed!

Well, we finally moved out of the living room (where our bed was set up until our bedroom got finished)....which means....our bedroom is finished and it is beautiful! I will put some photos here...and just remember, this is not America...so the beauty is different...but it's beauty is enhanced even more by the fact that my hubby (who had absolutely NO experience in decorating) did every bit of the redecorating by him self!

He even laid the carpet single-handedly! The story of the carpet was great. We had priced carpet for our room and it was going to be in the realm of £290 (pounds, not dollar...like double the value of dollars!). So we kept looking until one day we were in a big B & Q near our house and we found a remnant of some carpet which we liked...and it was only £60!!! But it cost £30 to have it delivered. Now it is about 4meters x 4 meters...so pretty long! When my hubby (being a very ingenious guy!) decided that his main form of transport would be just the thing to bring our new carpet home....but his main form of transport (apart from his legs) is a bike! So imagine the scene. We go home and get his bike and go back to the shop, and the guys bring out the very long roll of carpet...and ask if we would like them to carry it to our car...and Tico says, "Just leave it here, that's fine." I asked if we could wait till the shop closed...but he thought we better start our journey home! So both of us were giggling as we strapped the very long load onto the bike and he kept it in place with the bike lock and off we went. Everyone who saw us laughed out loud!!! It was so funny! We were laughing, everyone around us was laughing and it was a great scene! But we got home without any mishaps and my ingenious husband even found a way to get the carpet up to our 2nd floor apartment...by hoisting it up with a long extension cord wrapped around it. He is just my hero! I always loved MacGyver...and now I married one!!! :-)

So now that the flat was pretty much in order...Tico wanted to have a thanksgiving dinner. In his upbringing, whenever God blessed someone in an amazing way, they often had a big dinner as a demonstration of gratitude for His blessing. So last night we invited our new friends over and had a thanksgiving dinner. I made my mom's famous chicken casserole and Tico made his famous beans, rice and even a lovely Brazilian sausage dish. It was great. We had AMERICAN brownies for dessert and it was a hit! We had 5 Brazilians, 1 Swedish, 1 Australian and 1 1/2 Americans (that's me and the baby!) It was fun and crazy and I wish all our families had been there to give thanks for the blessing of our new home!

The last bit of excitement is that yesterday we went to the Dr and we heard our baby's heartbeat! It was music to our ears! Thank God for this wonderful blessing too! We will have to have another dinner later to celebrate him/her!