In the family way

So, for the few people out there who haven't heard our great news, here it is: I'm pregnant! Yay!

Matt and I are So excited! I'm 13 weeks and due March 23. We've seen the baby in an ultrasound at six weeks .... it looked like a little dot. We also heard the heart beat at 10 weeks. Really fun stuff. We won't know if it's a boy or girl until the last week of October, so we're really looking forward to that appointment.

Surprises

When pregnant women say they're tired in their first trimester, what they really mean is unbelievably exhausted. Pregnancy websites warning me I might feel tired during the past few months is a cruel joke. The truth is, most days of the week, I feel like I'm on two days of no sleep and have a marathon to run.

 The other day, I cried during a commercial. Seriously. Today I was watching a recording of Go On and teared up when the main character talked about his wife dieing. It's incredibly weird how emotional I've been for the past several weeks.

Keeping it a secret for a while was easy. Finding a way to tell our family in a way that one side didn't find out through Facebook or something was difficult. And then, we tell everyone, and everyone kept it off of Facebook .... of course.

Meeting expectations

Because my mother never had morning sickness, I expected the same. As irrational as that may be, it turned out to be true. I've had no morning sickness. Sure, for a few weeks in there I felt a little sick to my stomach in the afternoons, but nothing serious. And that makes the tiredness OK. It's more than a fair trade off.

Our families are so excited. Everyone is working on grandparent names and making plans to get off of work in March.

Looking forward

I feel like we have a long way to go, but really it's just six more months away. How crazy is that? I better start reading up on what I have to expect.

Which brings me to my plea for help. I love books. I love information. It comforts me. So PLEASE send pregnancy, motherhood and child raising book suggestions my way! I need some books and I don't know where to start. If it helped you, then please recommend it to me.

Thanks everyone. And please keep me, Matt and little one in your prayers.

Daily Devotional

Back to my lesson on daily Bible study. (For those who didn't read the last blog, I talked to a group of teenage girls about Bible study last week.)

While I encouraged them to start while they're young. I admit, I didn't get into the habit until three years ago. (OK, I guess that's pretty young.) No matter what your age, I would highly recommend getting into this habit.

I can not begin to describe what a comfort daily immersing myself in God's word has been to my life. There is so much wisdom in there. Over and over it describes God's love for man.

What does God's word do for us?

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Psalms 119:11

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalms 119:105



 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:3-11

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Psalms 19:7-10

There are so many other verses that talk about how the Bible can add peace and beauty to our daily lives.

It's so easy to think that because you go to every church service and Bible study that you're learning enough about God, you're putting in your time. But this is the wrong way to look at it. Can we really know enough about God and what he wants for our lives? Should we put in the minimum amount of work possible on our Christian lives?

I admit, I've found myself thinking this way many times. It doesn't make you a bad person, please don't get me wrong. There's just so much more in the Bible than some people take advantage of.


Have you ever gone to church and left saying the sermon was "exactly what you needed?" The awesome thing about daily Bible study is you can have that feeling every day. You can choose to study EXACTLY what you need. Lost a loved one? Find words of comfort. Struggling with sin? Read about others who have struggled. Unhappy with how your life is going? Learn to refocus your life on what matters.


I hope anyone reading this starts a daily Bible study. It has the power to transform your life.

If I've convinced you to start a daily Bible study, here are a few tips that helped me succeed.


1. Just do it! Don't have an all or nothing attitude. In other words, don't feel like there is a perfect way to do it and, if done wrong, you're better off not studying. Don't wait for the right time or when you have enough time. Do it now.


2. Keep doing it. Don't let missing a few days of study completely derail your efforts. Have you ever tried to read through the Bible in a year? Did you get derailed at Leviticus or Numbers? My suggestion: skip it. It is much better to thumb on over to Joshua than to put your Bible away for the next few months.


3. Set aside a regular time and place so you can get into the habit. Habits are powerful things. And getting obstacles out of your way is important. I personally love doing it in the morning, the house is quite and it's a great way to start the day. I also always do it at my kitchen table and I keep my Bible study materials nearby.


4. Begin and end with a prayer. Begin by asking God to help you focus through the study and end by praying for what you've learned you need to apply to your life.


5. Takes notes as you go so you will stay focused on what you're studying. Have you ever read a chapter in the Bible and then thought, "I have no idea what I just read?" This will prevent that problem.


6. Condense what you've learned onto something you can carry with you all day and review.


7. Make this Bible study time your own. If you want to skip around from study to study, do it. If you want to study the same thing over and over again, do it. This is your time. Study what you know is best for you.


Well, that was my talk. Let me say, I am in no way perfect at a daily Bible study. As I told the girls, I often skip Saturday. But when I stick with it, the benefits are amazing. I have grown so much closer to God in the last few years and I KNOW it is because of the daily time I spend in His word. The main point of all my tips is don't feel like you have to be perfect. Just commit to accomplishing it.

If anyone does decide to make this commitment. Let me know!


Love,
Katlynn

Gratitude

Hello all,

Friday I had the privilege of talking to a group of sweet, Christian girls. We had a lot of  fun and I hope they learned a lot. I know I did. It's so nice to see young women who are being raised to love God and who don't mind giving up a Friday night to learn more about Him.

Before I spoke, Peggy, our preacher's wife and the mother of one of the girls, talked about gratitude. She encouraged the girls to keep a gratitude journal by simply writing down five things they were grateful for every day. I'm hoping to incorporate that into my day, too. In fact, I think it's another great way to start my day.

What I'm grateful for today:
1. My loving Christian family
2. My mom got an iPad so I can FaceTime with her
3. My husband's patience and forgiveness
4. The Mentalist reruns
5. The beautiful rain and awesome thunder

What are you grateful for today?

Soon I'm going to share the lesson I gave the girls about daily Bible study.

Buttermilk Pie

When I bite into a piece of buttermilk pie I think of my grandmothers, sitting around the living room with my extended family and all things Texas. I love buttermilk pie, not only because it's delicious, but because it triggers a ton of memories.

For some reason I thought buttermilk pie was really hard to eat. ... no idea where that came from. Turns out it's as easy as ... pie. Yes, I wrote that. I had to.

Anyway, making buttermilk pie is easy and I think everyone should go to their kitchen and get some eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla find their grandmother's buttermilk pie recipe and cook up some pie! (If you don't have buttermilk in the fridge, put a tablespoon of vinegar in a cup of milk and let it sit for 15 minutes.) You should have all of the ingredients on hand. If you can't find your grandmother's recipe, try Carla Hall's recipe at The Chew.

Matt and I each got a piece and then I took it to work.

Michael said it was great.

Wedding Weekend

Matt and I got off work early Friday and drove to Austin for my cousin James' wedding.

The wedding was beautiful, Megan (the bride) was radiant, James was clearly very happy and everyone had a good time. .... except for maybe Kevin, James' brother.

Let me tell you a story. Kevin passed out during the wedding. The end.

SORRY KEVIN! Poor guy had to get stitches under his lip because he face planted. It was a very exciting addition to the day. I'm assuming he locked his legs which, I hear, is not uncommon. Poor Kevin.

Here are some of the pictures I snapped during the evening.

 One of the MANY flower arrangements created by Aunt Peggy with the help of my many talented female family members. Gorgeous!

 My aunts and uncles. Mom and Dad are on the far right.

 

Me and my beautiful sister-in-law Lacey.

 

 

We stuffed the whole family into the photo booth.

Minus Coleman and Sarah who are in California and we miss dearly!

 

I enjoy going to the weddings of people I love. I'm a girl, sure. But mostly I think I enjoy weddings because it takes me back to my wedding. Weddings are beautiful and fun, but most of all they're the commitment that starts a marriage. And marriage is far more beautiful than a wedding.

I thank God every day for Matt. He's my partner, my best friend, my biggest supporter. He's the man I laugh with, I cry with and I make plans with.

Man or woman, I believe deciding who you will marry is second in importance only to your decision to follow God with your whole heart. And we make it when we're SO young.

But here's the coolest thing about marriage. You grow together.

Thanks to Megan and James for letting me and Matt be a part of their big day and reminding us about the preciousness of marriage. ..... and thanks to Kevin for being such a good sport with all of the teasing this weekend.

Until next time,

Katlynn

'Heading' in the right direction

Check out my cool new header! Created by Theresa at Sunshine & The Soul . A complete new header and, hopefully, a new design to come.

People, she did this in one night so I could have a header until I get her some photos .... really cool.

Thanks Theresa!

This week was ... clumsy

My week was one mistake after the next. I seemed bent on hurting myself and making a mess every where I went. I took clumsy to a whole new level.

Have you ever had one of those weeks?

An illustrated guide to my week.

(Pictures are stock images as I can never remember to actually take photos of things.)

I hurt my shoulder. I don't know how, I don't really know when. But getting dressed every day has nearly brought me to tears. ... I'll admit, I've been whining.

I carry this big, beautiful cup of ice water around with me every where. This week, I spilled it twice. Each time it was full. Once was on the floor of the break room at my office. The next was when I was rushing out the door. I knocked it IN TO my laptop case. ... Both times required a lot of clean up.

 Finally, possibly the most painful thing I've ever done to myself happened Thursday morning as I was rushing through my morning routine to make it to a dentist appointment.

Ever hear of Clear Care? It's used to clean contacts, but you have to let it sit for six hours. (Probably because of the hydrogen peroxide in it.) Not doing so will "cause burning and stinging or redness."

Boy does it. Instead of rinsing my contacts with saline solution, I squirted some Clean Care on one before sticking it into my left eye. It hurt. It hurt real bad. Screams, crying and 20 minutes of rinsing my eye with water followed. .... I'm not even really sure what happened to the contact. My eye was red, red, red. I looked like half of Natalie Portman in The Black Swan. I could have easily stared in a horror film.

I'm telling you, I am an a pain inflicting streak this week.

Sigh.

OK, now no more whining. It's time to pick myself up and enjoy my weekend. Hopefully accident free. I've already made a great start. I baked Matt's favorite peanut butter chocolate chip cookies without burning myself. The weekend is on the right track and it's time for me to go enjoy it.

Any one else do anything stupid this week? Let me know. .... It would go a long way towards healing my pride. :)

Until next time,

Katlynn

New beginnings

They're coming.

It's been far too long since I've updated this blog. I could go into the excuses including the fact that I write for a living and doing it when I get home isn't always the most inviting prospect. But, really, nothing is going on in our lives to write about.

When people ask us what we've been up to, all I can every say is work. For nearly four years Matt and I have lived and worked in the Brazosport Area in Brazoria County. Matt as a mechanical engineer, me as a reporter and now editor. We've done well, we've moved up.

But now, Matt has a new job in Cypress and changes worth talking about are just around the corner. For those who aren't quite sure where Cypress or Angleton - our current hometown - is, Angleton is 30 minutes south of Houston while Cypress is on the northwest side. Matt drives an hour and a half to work every day. In total, he spends three hours in the car. We are blessed that Matt has two coworkers to carpool with, cutting down on the cost, but not the time.

Sure, the drive is doable. But we don't want Matt losing that much time, especially after we have kids .... someday. So, needless to say, we'll be moving to Cypress sometime soon, or soonish. .... within a year.

Hence the new name for my blog.

While I don't know much about Cypress, I've driven through. And let me tell you, for those that haven't made the trip, it's Houston. 100 percent Houston. There is no gap between the two cities. I suppose there is a sign to indicate you've left one and are entering the other, but that's it: a sign, a line on the map.

Driving around in it semi terrifies me. Traffic, traffic, traffic. My three-accident self is a bit nervous about the idea of navigating the town and traffic.

But the traffic isn't the only thing I worry about.

I hesitate to admit it. But I'm nervous about the people. Will I, a girl raised on a cotton farm and since spent her time in small towns, find anything in common with these, for lack of a better term, city people? Maybe I'm over thinking it.

Either way, I'm finding myself very nervous and very excited about the change. Matt and I are in our groove down here. I know the area. I know the people. We have a routine in our marriage, we've developed a partnership.

Change is a funny thing. It's not black and white. You analyze it over and over again to make sure it's the right change. Almost all change is part good, part bad.

I doubt I'll be telling you anything new when I say that I'm a bit of a worrier. The heart of the matter is you never know what will happen once you make a change. And as a compulsive planner, I quake at the idea of not knowing what is coming next.

So, I will be going back to the following verse often in the coming months.

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."  Phil. 4:13

Until next time, I hope you, too, take comfort from this verse.

Love always,

Katlynn