Think on Such Things

So, it's been a while since I've updated my blog. Yes, I know...slacker. Here is the update in a nutshell. We had our baby girl on October 8th. She was heavy and long. She is still heavy and long being in the 95 percentile for her age. She's a true Stone! We still live in Tempe and are still looking to move out to North Carolina in June. I'll write more about those things as the time draws nearer and as I get back into blogging. With having our little Hannah this year, God has given me such a different perspective on this season. Think about it. God came to earth as a little baby. Totally helpless. Totally dependent on someone that He created. He had poopy diapers. He was fed by a woman that He created to function the way that she did. It's all just amazing! What humility He showed by coming to earth. It just shows that this plan of salvation was not made up by any human. I know that I would have done it differently if it were up to me to save man. Thank goodness it...

So, today I went to the hospital. Now, when I talk about the hospital, remember that is my primary physician since I get free healthcare. Oh, the beauty of being Native American. Anyway, like I said yesterday, I haven't been feeling good. Well, woke up several times in the middle of the night because I had to go to the bathroom more often and because it felt like Hiroshima had exploded in my throat. I have never had a worse sore throat in my entire life! What would a pregnant woman think in such a circumstance? Am I going to die and will this hurt the baby. Good news, I'm not dying and the baby is fine. I thought that I might have strep but we'll still have to wait a few days to see if that is true. When I went to the hospital they said that I was really dehydrated. So, they hooked me up to an IV in hopes of stopping the contractions that I was having. Yeah, I know. I was just as shocked to hear that I was having contractions because I wasn't feeling a thing. I must adm...

I'm almost 32 weeks pregnant. I'm tired (can you tell by the picture?). I'm getting sick. I'm uncomfortable. Funny how all this is ushering in what is supposed to be the best change in our life, our little girl. Right now, to be honest, I don't like the change that I've gone through. Sagginess here, bulging there, soar here, weird spot there, oh and so much more. Well, that was my two minutes of complaining. I'm really thankful for the title of this blog, because it gives me perspective in my rants. I shouldn't be thinking on how awful I may think things are. I should be thinking on what is good, pure, right. Good reminder. Well, this picture is f rom when we were in North Carolina a few weeks ago. Have I mentioned yet that we are planning to move there next summer? I probably haven't mentioned it because we just broke the news to the last of our family members about two weeks ago. We are so excited and yet terrified at the same time. God is calling...

Think on Such Things just got a facial at THE BLOG SPA! If you would like information about getting a facial for your blog - e-mail Lisa EggeBrecht at leggebrecht@cox.net or visit The Blog Spa at www.theblogspa.blogspot.com

Just a question that I had for all you people. Why is it that everyone is so excited to ask me the question, "So... have you had any weird cravings?" I think that it's so funny when someone asks me that. It's like they want me to say that I've been craving dog food, or some weird concoction. Maybe the next time someone says that to me, I'll tell them something completely outrageous. Maybe I'll say, "Yes! I've had this intense craving to just gnaw on a piece of cotton!" Do you think that will throw them off?

So, I finally sat down to scan in my ultrasound pics. Look closely and you can already see that Hannah has my cheeks. Dan is very excited that she inherited those from my Claus family. In this first picture, she has her mouth open. Do you see her creepy looking eye sockets? This second picture will hopefully be the one and only kind of this nature posted on the internet in Hannah's lifetime! Bet you can't tell from this picture that she's a girl. I can, but I'll just let you look for a really long and frustrating time. The picture below is one of my favorites because you can see a little bit of her profile and you can see her spine. That is just so great to me! This is our little girl in there... our own flesh and blood! This picture is upside down, so it looks like she is laying on her back with her head to the right of the picture. Well, that's my baby girl! She's been moving around a ton lately. I think that our hopes of having a docile child have been shot....

So, I haven't gotten around to putting up Hannah's ultrasound pics yet, but I do want to show off my adorable nephew. What a precious gift he has been to so many people. His story has literally reached around the world. It has been amazing to see what God has done! He is currently out of ICU and his parents are waiting to take him home when he starts to feed on his own. He really is a little miracle. I can't wait to see him soon!

I think that God has allowed me to see something great! I think that He's given me a blurry glimpse of what He has created me for! I only wish that my heart desired this truth more often. So, I was reading a friend's blog the other day and she said something that I just couldn't get out of my head. She said, "How can something be so worth it even when it means that it will NEVER be about you again?" It started to make me think...are all the best things not about me? I know that there are good things that are about me, but are they the best things? Do I only settle for what is good when I think about me? Do I sacrifice best for what is only good? I'm more and more convinced that good is the enemy of best, not worst! Anyway, I read her blog and then went for a walk around GCU's campus. That's when God gave me a moment of clarity. I walked around and just looked at everything. I started to look at the trees and how they swayed in the wind. I started to se...

I fully realize that by breaking the surprise in my title, you may not be interested in reading the rest of this entry...but oh well. So, we found out on Thursday afternoon. It really is amazing how the ultrasound techs can look at a picture and see if it's a girl or a boy. Well... I guess that it's not quite as hard to see if it's a boy, but looking for a girl is amazing. My sister in law told me the most hysterical way of seeing whether it's a boy or a girl on an ultrasound. If you see a hotdog shape, it's a boy. If you see a hamburger, it's a girl. We definitely saw the hamburger shape! We are just beaming with excitement about this little girl! I knew it. I knew for about the last month that we were having a girl. Just by the way that I'm carrying and by a few other indicators that will remain nameless. So... when the 4 foot tall Native American lady who was doing our ultrasound told us that we were having a girl, I wasn't surprised. Funny though. Yo...

Today was Lincoln's birthday! He made it through the surgery, but he's not out of the woods yet. He is a whopping 6.5lbs, with some of that weight being the fluid that he was retaining. Even still, he's a good sized little boy which is working in his favor. He has a good heartbeat, but not a great heartbeat. What you can be praying for right now is his lungs. His lungs still have some fluid in them and are not working at the capacity that they need to be. Every report that we hear continues to be good, so we are thanking God for the healing that he's breathing into Lincoln's life. What really is amazing is the reports that we hear about the hospital staff. God's glory is already being displayed in the hospital! Apparently, the staff told Mike and Rebecca that they are amazed to see how they have been handling this whole thing. Rebecca has constantly been in the Word and sharing their peace with every staff member of the hospital. Mike is reassuring us that God i...

What a week! That's what I've been telling so many people for the past several days. I think that it would be fair to say that this week has been the most emotionally charged week of my life thus far. I don't doubt that as I write this entry, tears will start and stop. They've been starting and stopping for the past several days. "What's going on?" you ask. Well, last week we found out that my great aunt was not doing very well. She lives here in Phoenix. She was the aunt that mom and dad would take us over to their house every once in a while. What I remember of that house is the little adventures that Sonny and I would go on in their garden outside their trailer home. We would romp around that garden that hung on the side of a cliff, or what seemed to us like a cliff at the ripe age of 10. We also loved going over their because they had a kumkwat tree. Whenever I eat a kumkwat, for the rest of my life I will think of Floren and Maryella. Floren would als...

Here are those long awaited ultrasound pictures. These pictures are when I was 13 weeks. On Thursday, I'll be 16 weeks. So, our little one has grown quite a bit since these pictures. Although we couldn't tell from these pictures, if we had an ultrasound now we could see if it is a boy or a girl. My favorite pic is the one at the very top. The baby is either rubbing his/her eyes or sucking their thumb. How amazing is that! I just can't even wait to see this little one.

So, I haven't put any of the ultrasound pics yet because I can't figure out my scanner. One of these days, you'll get to see some pics. First, I'll tell you about the visit to the doctor last week and ultrasound. Then, I'll tell you about the visit to the emergency room. The doctor's visit was so great! I just love that little one so much already. Our appointment was at 11:30 and I was so anxious the whole morning. Dan was really hoping to find out if it was a boy or a girl, but we were about 2 weeks early for that type of news. Some people say that you can tell the sex of the baby around 15 weeks and I was only 13 weeks when we went. The doctors told me that I needed to have a full bladder when I went for the ultrasound, so they suggest drinking a quart of water an hour before the appointment. The worst part is, I wasn't allowed to pee for that whole hour!! Talk about painful, but I made it. For some reason, the Phoenix Indian Medical Center doesn't all...

Well, I haven't written in a while because my pregnancy has been fairly uneventful. No morning sickness except for being really picky about food. No substantial belly growth yet. No weird cravings. No feeling the baby yet. As far as I've been told, I have a pretty easy pregnancy so far. I guess you could say that the only really abnormality is that I can't eat meat. Just thinking about meat makes me a little nauseated. So, it's starting to get interesting to try and find my protein in other ways. About the only foods that I don't have to be picky about is cereal and an occassional chocolate shake. If it's going to be like this everytime, then I could see having 5 of the 12 kids that Dan wants. On Thursday, I'll be 13 weeks. We also have our first ultrasound on Thursday!! I am so excited to meet our little one on Thursday! I'm halfway expecting the doctor to say that we are 12 weeks instead of 13, but we'll see tomorrow. We won't be able to find ...

Well, didn't get an ultrasound, but we have our first one scheduled for the 27th of March. We'll get to hear the heartbeat then! Dr. said that everything looks fine and oh yes, I am really pregnant. That fact hit a little more today with the doctor confirming it. I feel like we have a little more freedom to celebrate. Well, it's late and I have a Pampered Chef show in the morning. Got to get my beauty rest.

Well, Dan and I have some great news! We've been waiting for a little one for a little over a year and two weeks ago we found out that God answered our prayers. We're pregnant! Today is our first doctors appointment and I would be lying if I didn't say that I'm a little scared. We couldn't get an appointment until two weeks after we had a positive pregnancy test! Oh the anticipation, the excitement! But, we're hoping to get to see our little munchkin today. I should be about 7 weeks. I'm thinking that the doctor might want me to have an ultrasound today because I have endometerosis, a disease where the endometerial fibers grow outside of the uterus. From everything that I've read, I may be considered as having a high risk pregnancy. We'll see. I definitely need to watch how much I am researching and reading. I think that sometimes it can be a cause of unneeded stress. Ignorance really can be bliss. As far as changes in me... I haven't had very ma...

It's kind of weird starting a blog. I never thought that I would do something like this, but oh how life turns in directions other than planned. It almost feels as though I'm introducing myself to someone new...meeting them for the first time. You know. That awkward, "Hi. My name is Melissa. What's yours?" feeling. I suppose I may be meeting someone new, but that's not how I'm going to treat you blog. Blog, I'm going to treat you like you're my best friend. I'm going to treat you like you've known me for years. Why? Because I think that this world needs a little authenticity and let's just face it...change starts with me first. I can't expect someone else to be authentic with me if I'm not authentic with them. So, here's my attempt at authenticity. Hopefully, I won't use this thing as a scapegoat to avoid real authenticity with real people. If I do, I give any and everyone permission to call me out on that. So, why the t...