Hitting the Home Stretch

I'm in the home stretch of the pregnancy, the final days and weeks. It always seems like pregnant people don't take pictures of themselves. I spend their pregnancies waiting to see updates and pics of their super-cute bellies. While in it myself, it takes a concerted effort to be in pictures. It's not because I don't want to be, but I'm usually behind the camera OR I just don't care about taking pictures and don't have the camera with me.

So without further adieu, here are the past 15 weeks of my pregnancy in pictures. I'm staring down 38 weeks on Thursday, May 7.

tmm

Prego pics

Here is the first installment of pregnancy pics with Baby #2. I'm 27 weeks pregnant and am almost to my third trimester. I'm not sure exactly how that happened! I spent the first trimester waiting to get out of the trimester, taking life day by day and just trying to survive. Now that I've adjusted to it, we're almost in the final stretch!

tmm

ETD May 2015

The Announcement

Who: Us
What: A Baby!
Where: Illinois
When: ETD May 21, 2015

We are excited to announce that we'll be bringing another little life into the world in May. Thank you for your prayers as we continue with the pregnancy. All looks good so far.
tmm

Happy New Year!

We are solidly into January 1 of a new year. There will be many changes to come, both big and small, as there are every year. From our family to yours, we hope you had a merry Christmas and wish you a happy New Year!

Remembering God's Goodness

One year ago today we had just been discharged from the hospital for Annie's emergency surgery. Somehow the significance of the weekend's date had gone unnoticed by me until Friday.

 

The feelings of seeing her symptoms and feeling helpless hasn't left. 

The sadness of seeing her asleep after her surgery and just wanting her to wake up so we could hold her hasn't left.

The memory of seeing her hooked up to wires and monitors hasn't left. 

The feelings of joy mixed with exhaustion come flooding back when seeing the pictures (this picture above is the first time we were able to hold her.)

The joy of having her still with us is also still there.

When she has any of the symptoms from that August 25 date, our hearts still jump. Nate and I still talk about the overwhelmingness of the event. How quickly everything happened. How God supplied our needs through the nurses and doctors. How He sustained us in the wee hours. How He showed His care for us through meals lovingly provided. We are grateful and try not to take our time with her for granted. And we try to hold her in open hands, as a gift entrusted to us to care for.

tmm

My Sweet Girl

Last week I took a few pictures of my sweet girl in the backyard, now 13 months old. They said it would happen, the time would fly -- and they were right. Here are a few of my faves.

tmm

Christmas festivities

Anyone who knows me knows I love Christmas. I love the food, the traditions, the trees, the lights, the baking, the real meaning.... all of it! Today was our work Christmas lunch. Annie and I traveled downtown with Nate for a day at the office, aka an excuse to see and catch up with everyone. Annie did great and got to see her old friends. I enjoyed seeing everyone, too.
tmm

Endings, Beginnings, and Change

Today begins a new chapter in my life. In our lives as a family. Yesterday was my last day of full-time employment.

It is a decision I made - it was not forced upon me - but if you know me at all, you know how much I hate change. (Strangely, I rather like change of the coin-sort. Go figure.) It is the right decision for me, right now. I do not regret it, but I will miss my coworkers, my friends, my family... those whom I've worked with for over 13 years and love, whom I've celebrated with and cried with. I will still have a connection with them, working part-time from home, but it won't be the same. 

But it's the right decision.

And my reward is to see this sweet face each day.

tmm

First day at school

Today we went to my sister's new classroom to help her set it up. She will be teaching 5th grade this year. Yay! I'm so excited for this school year for her.

Annie got her first view inside the classroom of any kind and seemed to enjoy it. She didn't care for the chair so much, but was getting a grasp on grammar. You can see her contemplating the best helping verbs to use in her workbook. Watch out, world!

tmm

Final Weeks of My Pregnant Life

Here are the final weeks of my pregnancy. (I didn't realize how big I was until I looked at these pictures.) As you can see, I didn't make it to 40 weeks. But I thought it'd be fun to continue the pictures to the end. Annabel "Annie" Wren McMillan was born May 22 at 10:12pm CT. She weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce and measured 20-1/2 inches long.

Weeks 37-40

tmm

A Prayer for My Daughter before She is Born

I pray that as this little one is born into this world as my daughter,

so too she would be born a second time as Yours.

I pray that as I will be her father from cradle to the grave,

so too You would be her Father for eternity.

I pray that as she grows inside of her mother,

so too she would grow in the knowledge of Your word.

I pray that as her mother has carried her for these past months,

so too You would carry her all the days of her life.

I pray that as she moves inside the womb,

so too Your Spirit would move in her heart and mind.

I pray that as her mortal life has begun,

so too her eternal life would begin with her faith in Jesus Christ.

I pray that as she begins to become aware of the world around her,

so too she would become aware of her need for a Savior.

I pray that as she comes to understand our love for her,

so too she would understand Your love poured out on the cross.

I pray that as You have given her to me,

so too she would give herself to You.

I pray that my child, O Father, would become Your child.

I pray that my daughter might one day become Yours.

nwm

Maternity Pictures

In our cooler-than-normal spring, we took advantage of the first almost-warm-enough-to-be-outside-without-a-jacket day and went to the Chicago Botanic Garden to take some maternity pictures at 33 weeks. It was a fairly casual shoot since it was just the two of us (three of us?). I was even able to convince the father-to-be to join me in a few.



 

 

 Warming up inside one of the tropical greenhouses also provided some good shots.

Our attempt to have a picture of me with a bird nest

tmm

More Prego Progress

It's way past time for another pregnancy progress visual update. I will be 37 weeks pregnant tomorrow so we're down to the final few weeks. I'm still feeling pretty good, just a little more tired than usual.

The second half of pregnancy (mostly): Weeks 21-36

tmm

Progress

We have been taking weekly progress pictures of our growing family. For your viewing pleasure--and if you're interested because you haven't seen me since I've "popped" or find it hard to imagine what I look like--here are belly pictures from the first half of my pregnancy. (And we are taking them in front of our porch door to watch the changing seasons.)

The first half of pregnancy: halfway there - and no more morning sickness!

tmm

Grandfather Clocks

When Nate was in his early 20s, he and his dad were talking about grandfather clocks and how they both liked them and would love to own one someday. Nate said, "I'll tell you what. When I make you a grandfather, I'll get you a grandfather clock." Thankfully he had told me this early on in our relationship so it wasn't a surprise. But I did wonder if there was a creative way around it -- would a miniature grandfather clock work? What about a calendar of grandfather clocks? How about a grandfather clock kit? Nope, it had to be the real thing. We hadn't seen any around, but kept our eyes out (because how common are they?), even though I wasn't pregnant. 



At the end of September 2012, we found out we were pregnant! But since we're not very good at keeping secrets, we had to figure out how to announce it to our parents creatively yet obviously - and quickly. And there was the situation of the grandfather clock.

We stopped by a resale shop to see if they had any nice, affordable grandfather clocks. They had one that was beautiful, fairly understated, and affordable! After doing some measuring of it--and our car--we decided to get it. Hooray!

We decided to tell our parents in person by getting each of our moms Gerbera daisies to represent their grandchildren plus a red rose for their new grandchild. We gave a quick call to my parents to make sure they were home (they were) and to make sure Nate's parents would be home later that afternoon (they live about 2 hours away - they were planning on it). We stopped at my sister Lisa's and told her, then swung by my parents'. When we got there, we handed the bouquet of four flowers to my mom and told them they were to represent their grandchildren...all of their grandchildren. They counted the flowers and realized what it meant and were thrilled!

My mom with her flowers

We didn't stay long since we had to drive down to Nate's parents' still. While driving there, we called my other siblings to tell them the news (they were all thrilled).

In the meantime, Nate's family (his parents and sisters) had been pondering whether us coming down rather unexpectedly with "something to drop off" meant we had a grandfather clock with us...translating to another grandchild. Or maybe they were better off assuming it was puppy so they wouldn't be disappointed if we showed up with something not nearly as exciting as an announcement of an expected birth some nine months away.

While on our way, Nate's sister, Amy, called to tell us that she had to leave for church. We told her and she was thrilled to pieces to be an aunt again. When we arrived at Nate's parents', we got out of the car, went to the front door and were met by expectant looks of anticipation. Nate said, "You need to come outside to get it." Nate's dad hurried out to see what we had brought with us. Nate's mom quickly followed. Nate's sister, Karen, looked at me and asked, "Is it a grandfather clock?" "Yes, it sure is!" Hugs and tears followed. I also handed the bouquet of one dozen to Nate's mom.
 
Then the assembly of the clock commenced.

It looked like it was made to sit against their brick fireplace. And it has the most lovely chime.

Thankfully, Nate's comment about the clock only applied to his first child...because who really needs more than one grandfather clock?

Nate's mom with her bouquet

Nate and his dad with the grandfather clock

tmm

Israel, Day 2 - Part 1

We awoke to a beautiful clear morning in Netanya. After breakfast, we headed out on the bus.

A daylight look at our hotel

Ready to go!

We left Netanya and traveled north to Caesarea, excited to begin exploring the Land we have read so much about.

Our first stop in Caesarea was the Roman Theater, then Herod's Palace.

Roman architecture

Dr. Jim Coakley, one of our Red Bus Moody guides

I was struck by the beauty of Caesarea. And the Roman-ness. This is the first place we have really seen (and we picked up Walt and Brenda McCord here). It was the first we saw of Herod the Great’s building genius. The aqueducts were amazing, bringing fresh water almost 10 km. Herod had a palace that was recently uncovered by archaeologists, including a hippodrome (for horse/chariot races). There was also an inscription about Pontius Pilate that we saw here. We also sat in a reconstructed theater (only goes half-way around – and had great acoustics!). It was this very spot that Herod Agrippa addressed the people. He dressed all in royal clothes – all silver and reflecting in the sunlight, Dr. Coakley said – and spoke to them. The people were crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” We started saying it as our group of 80 and it was a little freaky to hear it...gave me goosebumps as we were saying it. I can only imagine the absurdity yet the gathering noise and energy (almost like a runaway train that you’re helpless to control) as more and more joined in. Acts 12:23 says, “And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory (my emphasis), and he was eaten by worms and died.” He was a sight to behold, all glittering and beautiful in the sunlight with the Mediterranean behind him, then he was dead in front of their eyes, being eaten by worms.

Dr. Coakley compared that Caesarea experience with one that Peter had in Acts 10:25-26. Peter has had his vision about going to the Gentiles and Cornelius sent for him. Cornelius waits for Peter in Caesarea and when Peter arrives, Cornelius, a Roman centurion, “fell at his feet and worshiped him.” Peter responds in a completely different way than Herod Agrippa, who didn’t give God glory. Peter tells Cornelius to “Stand up; I too am just a man.” He didn’t elevate himself over Cornelius (in some ways interesting since he had struggled with Gentiles and the gospel). 

It makes me think about how I need to give God the glory for what He has done, for things I didn’t have anything to do with. I can’t take credit for what He has done.

 

A view from ground level, looking into the stands

A view of what remains of Herod's Promontory Palace

A floor mosaic that remains. I think this was a bath floor.

The hippodrome for horse races

Roman aqueduct at Caesarea

Sea side of the aqueduct

After Caesarea, we drove northeast to Mount Carmel.

Goats on the hillside

Mount Carmel is where Elijah called down God's fire to an altar and killed the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18. At the top of Mount Carmel, there is a church (there is a church built on every holy site in Israel). There was also an overlook behind the church where we could see how hilly the land is.

A statue of Elijah slaying the prophets of Baal

A view from the top of Mount Carmel

 We ate lunch in a Druze village on our way down Mount Carmel - delicious food!

Lunch - salad and schnitzel

Getting to know our fellow travelers on the (red) Judah bus

Then it was off to our next destination -- through Nazareth to Galilee.
tm