a few new milestones :)

Quite a bit of new things to report since i last wrote! And yet, life has barely slowed down long enough for me to post.

Ireland was wonderful. Seriously, if you've ever debated going, just go. You'll love it. So beautiful, lovely people, and so much to see! Only I'll warn you, you're most likely going to wish you'd gotten to spend more time there ;)  It was so great to hang with Heather and her family, as well as to get to see Laura (think we really have spent more time together abroad than at home) and the wedding of dear Stefanie and Mitchell in Germany. Way too much goodness in one trip, and so little time since to sort and post pictures! :( 

Since we got back from Ireland (and after I finally got through the bulk of jet lag), we had TMC's Outreach Week to prepare for and direct (thanks so much to the 12 students who came up from Master's, and got so much work done around church! And to all those who helped with hosting and otherwise taking care of them). Even crazier, on Monday of last week, we closed escrow on our new house! So for the times we weren't working with the TMC team, we were in demolition and decision mode at the house. So far we've torn out cabinets and a sofet (sp) in the kitchen, jack-hammered out some tile, even torn out some of the drywall, taken down popcorn ceilings...and some other things either destructive or constructive. Thanks to the helpers who've already jumped in! Especially our parents. It's a bit overwhelming, but I think we can expect great things from the finished product!

Our new kitchen ;)

But more importantly, baby!  I am now definitely "showing," and baby is definitely moving! I felt my first for-sure little kick or bump on one of our last nights in Ireland (fortunately before Scott and I separated to head home and to Germany, respectively). Since then I've felt little him or her squirming or jumping around quite a few times, and last night he/she even gave us a couple leaps that Scott was even able to feel for the first time! Crazy, crazy. Hard to believe that in not so many months, we'll be seeing this little one squirming right beside our bedside instead. But speaking of him/her and he/she, maybe even crazier, we have our mid-pregnancy ultrasound today!! As always I'm just a touch anxious (plenty to check up on besides gender, I guess), but mostly excited.  I hope baby is not shy, cause we're really looking forward to knowing whether we've got a son or a daughter, and all the excitement of picking paint, and registry items, and for me, just getting to imagine our new lives as parents with a little more specific detail! 

Well, suppose that's enough until later (and I don't just mean enough exclamation points).