snow day

(we tried to make a cute heart on the baby at the wedding last night. it sorta worked :))

ahhhh i love snow days. it is nice to relax at home for an evening. slowly we are getting things done before the baby arrives...

1. set up arm's reach co-sleeper in our room--check! (i guess it's pretty important that the baby has a place to sleep)

2. assemble changing table in our room and stock with diapers, wipes, burp clothes, and onesies--check!

3. put together crib--semi check (we're not buying bedding until after the baby arrives, so this is as good as it gets)

4. write thank you notes for all of the baby/shower gifts--check!

5. register for march 7 & 8 childbirth class--check! (we're cutting this one a little close to the due date :))

6. organize hospital bag--check!

7. preregister at hospital--check!

8. type phone tree of people to call after the baby's birth--check!

still to do:

1. install carseats in our car and practice using them.

2. participate in childbirth class next weekend.

3. attend cwe baby shower next sunday (and write thank you notes).

4. attend baby shower with my work on march 20 (and write more thank you notes. my mentor just emailed me to tell me they were throwing a shower, so i'm pretty excited. i really wasn't expecting any of these showers and am thankful for baby kehrli's sake).

5. make a birth plan? eh, i don't think i'm going to type one out. the hopeful plan is to go into labor naturally, receive an epidural as soon as i arrive at the hospital (this is why i love NW Med. more than Mercy), avoid a c-section and pitocin if at all possible, and circumsize the baby if it is a boy. i think that covers most of the basics.

i am so so excited about monday. i can't wait to go to the doctor (even though i have to do the group b strep. test), watch the bachelor finale (i'm pretty sure i'm the only one in the world cheering for molly), and watch ku stomp all over missouri. i realize i am setting myself up for big disappointment if 1. the doctor finds anything wrong 2. molly loses 3. ku loses, but i have a good feeling about this one. love you all!

EDIT: apparently i am an idiot and the ku game is on right now (sunday afternoon). how did march sneak up on me like that???

on wall decorations

on the lighter side of things, we had a wonderful baby shower last weekend at my house. i've been wanting to decorate the baby's room, but since we're waiting to find out the gender (and i don't want yellow or green decorations), i've been resisting the urge to nest. however, we needed some decorations for the shower, so i decided onesies would be perfect. for about 30 seconds i contemplated the best way to hang up baby clothes. we didn't have any clothes pins or string, so my choice was narrowed to thumb tacks or tape. hm...which one would make my husband the least upset? tape for sure! i went a little crazy with the clothes, and even took some down because it was overwhelming, but not before capturing a few pictures. i give you our living room...

i hoped that my husband would leave them up until baby kehrli arrived, but when i got home from going out to dinner with friends, he had already taken all of them down :(. oh well. i'd like to add that the tape did NO DAMAGE AT ALL.

busy weekend ahead. kara and matt's wedding in fayetteville tomorrow night, james works saturday and i am getting a pedicure with lisa (first pedicure since i've been pregnant!) and going to my friend's birthday party for her 1 year old, then sunday we are hosting a bbq at our house for our small group. should be fun. love yall.

on the nicer side

our pastor at church shared a conversation on sunday that he had with a woman who bluntly told him that she didn't think fellowship church cared about the poor so she did not want to attend. he asked her why she thought fellowship did not care about the poor, and she told him to look around at the cars in the parking lot and the way people are dressed. the pastor then went on to tell her about fellowship's heart for the poor and all of the programs the church administers to help the underprivileged in the community and she decided to give the church a try.

although i do not feel that i need to justify that i care for the poor like our pastor justified our church's mission, and don't really want to write a whole entry on compassion (although it is terribly important, especially for christians), for the people out there that feel i have heartless soul, i would like to share a little bit of my heart/life. in last year, james and i have done a variety of things to help the community...

1. we worked (james still works) for camp war eagle. if you are not familiar with the mission of cwe, the camp was started 3 years ago from a walton foundation endowment to provide underprivileged kids in northwest arkansas with a premier summer camp experience. 80% of the children go for free (cost is based on family income), and there is no greater joy than seeing these kids escape the harsh reality of many of their family lives for a week of fun and love at camp.

2. we not only worked with these kids last summer, but we volunteer at events throughout the year for the kids and families, like the cwe christmas dinner where we served 400 of the poorest families in nwa a full turkey dinner and gave presents to 250 kids.

3. we've also served food at the samaritan community center.

4. we've initiated the good neighbor food drive in our neighborhood to help stock local food banks.
5. we've donated money to loving choices pregnancy center.

6. james built homes for families in mexico on a mission trip and we've supported other missionaries accross the world.

that's all of the tangible things that I can think of right now. i don't list these things to brag about how great of people we are because there are so many needs in the community and i wish we could spend more time volunteering because ultimately it is relationships that matter. however, i do recognize the need to help and love on the less fortunate people in the community. i've truly enjoyed getting to know these people (mainly the camp kids and families) and learning more about their life stories.

anyway, thank you all for your comments (both in agreement and disagreement) on the last post. i love discussing issues like this, and i especially love when people disagree because it challenges me to reflect and reevaluate why i believe what i do. although the high school debater part of me wants to break down the arguments and provide line by line responses, i think i'll pass.

a few random side notes though--pugsnotdrugs is my friend julia, who went to free state and jbu with me. although we've had our share of interesting blog experiences ;), i respect her opinions and experiences. we've actually emailed a couple times since my last post, and we agree on much more than we disagree on (i.e. the importance of taking responsibility, the need for improved education programs, etc.).

i'm not sure who kartasi is? apparently she's been stalking reading my blog for a while. i think it's ironic that she left a comment about not judging the poor, but in the same paragraph labeled me and my childhood as "upper middle class" because i grew up in lawrence and attended jbu. hm... that's kinda interesting. i never knew that all people who live in lawrence are upper middle class and i'm pretty sure i received a full scholarship to attend jbu, so my parents' income played no part in that (and while we're talking about giving to others, james and i donated money to jbu last year, too, as a small token of appreciation for all of the people who gave money to fund our educations). i deleted kartasi's comment because i thought it was rude and ignorant (and i have no idea who the heck she is).

okay i'm turning into mean silvy again. in other news, i have my 36 week checkup on monday and am excited nervous about the doctor checking my cervix to see if i am dilated at all. i kind of want to be dilated, but i'm not going to be disappointed if labor still looks far away (as in 4 weeks). the doctor will be checking me every week from here on out, which is pretty crazy exciting that our baby is close to being in our arms!

james and i might have big news soon (sorry sam, it's not that we're moving to denver :(). i can't say anything until everything is finalized, but we're keeping our fingers crossed and i'll give an update as soon as i can.

sweet dreams, good night. love you all!

35 weeks

163 pounds (35 pounds gained. 35 really? yup, definitely 35)

i am continually humbled and thankful for the love of family and friends. james got the baby and me each a rose for valentine's day (i guess i never wrote about valentine's day--it was great, but too late to write about now). my friends threw a 'pamper mommy' shower for me this weekend, and it meant a lot. 1. i appreciated that they recognized that our baby doesn't really need any more onesies 2. their thoughtfulness to have a shower and give personalized gifts was a blessing. they knew i love shutterfly, coldstone, b dubs, chick flicks, and a couple of them made a cute little basket with all of my favorite treats (dr. pepper, gummi worms, reeses, cashews, brownie mix, and a fun assortment of lotions).


thank yall!
it's late. the jayhawks won!! i love clicking the friends tab on facebook and seeing 80% of my friends status updates say "rock chalk ku!" now if we can just beat missouri sunday it will be a very successful season. i also love how most of my friends gloating ku victory statuses did not go to ku (like me).

an entry on wic, nadya suleman, and responsibility is coming soon. also on the upcoming agenda is an entry of lovely pictures of shower decorations that got me in big trouble with my husband :). love yall and hope you are having good mondays (how can mondays not be good with the bachelor and jayhawks??)

on man as provider

there's a popular country song out right now ("down the road" by kenny chesney) about a man pondering a marriage proposal, and the lyrics of the chorus reflect sentiments of the woman's family:

Her momma wants to know
Am I washed in the blood or just in the water?
Her daddy wants to know
If I make enough to take his daughter

there is great truth in the honesty of these questions, especially the father's desire to know if the man "makes enough to take his daughter." although my dad never said it to james that bluntly, i know it was very important to him that any man who wanted to marry me make providing for our family a top priority. walking me down the aisle and giving me away to james meant that my dad had to give up his reigns as my provider and hope that james would love me as deeply and sacrifice as much to take care of our family as my dad did for so many years. i can't imagine how hard this is for fathers.

that being said, i think it is important to acknowledge a couple things before continuing:
1. God is the ultimate provider.
2. women are not exempt from responsibility (and there are times and seasons in life when women may be the primary financial provider for the family. this is not a bad thing at all).

i respect both my husband and father so much, and i am thankful the the ways they have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice for our family. part of the reason james and i waited several years to get married was because james wanted to establish himself financially by working for a couple years after college. at one point in our relationship, he asked me how much i was expecting him to spend on a ring (ha, who does that?). i told him i would never give him a dollar amount and although i would like something nice, it was more important to me that he could pay cash for the ring than go into debt. he ended up saving and getting me a prettier rock than i ever imagined (thanks jules ;)), but what meant the most to me was that he was able to pay for it himself.

james continues to sacrifice for our relationship not only daily, but by paying for things like our honeymoon to jamaica, vacation to ecuador, the down payment on our house, etc., and i deeply respect him for his attitude about finances. perhaps the thing i respect most about james is that he does all of this without making a huge living. his degree is in youth ministry and he works for a non-profit summer camp, but his mentality is so focused on providing for his wife and family. there is no doubt in mind that he will always be able to take care of us, even if it means working a job that is not necessarily ideal or working two jobs at some point to do what it takes. again, i hope to do everything in my power as well to live frugally and help our family out as much as possible, but i know james will step up if we are ever facing hard times.

1 timothy 5:8 it says, "if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." while this is kind of strong language and can have many interpretations (i.e. emotionally providing, etc.), i like how it emphasizes the importance of providing for your family. i am so thankful that my husband lives by it, and i know there are tons of other great guys out there working hard to provide for their families as well. perhaps the question kenny should ask is not "do you make enough to take my daughter?" but "do you understand the value of money and the responsibility you have to provide for a family?" i sure hope so.