Getaway

Michael and I had the opportunity to leave town with some fun friends last week for a few days. We went to Farmlinks at Pursell Farms. The owners are friends with our staff friends, the Johnsons. It was so great to relax and eat well (I gained 4 pounds...yes, you read that right). We rode around in golf carts and spent a lot of time together, which was such a treat. Usually this group gets to see each other while running conferences or trainings, so we were excited to have uninterrupted time. I really can't do the place justice by writing about it, so check out the website.

Big Day in the Vestal House

Today was the "20 week ultrasound day", but really I'm only measuring 18 weeks and 5 days. Anyways, we went to the Dr. and saw our little girl again and heard her sweet heartbeat. She looks great! I'm relieved to hear she's growing well and has all her vital organs. :) My mom and grandpa got to come with the 4 of us, so that was additional fun. I'm sure I'm the only patient that has had 5 people in there for an ultrasound...oh well.
*Can't get the ultrasound pics on here. Bummer, they are so cute!

We also got our letter from the Heiskell School about Sam's scholarship and it was a lot more than we were expecting.  We're so excited and thankful! This is huge because we want to rent out our condo, rent another house in the area that's bigger, and we'll need to get a different car that can fit 3 car seats. I can't wait for him to go because I know he's going to love it, and for me to have my mornings with just Owen and the baby. I'm planning to do some homeschool with Owen while the baby naps and Sam is at school. We couldn't be happier with the whole situation. Thank you, God!

Our week in pictures

TUESDAY

We enjoyed the beautiful weather and played some baseball! Here's cute Nicholas that lives down the street.

It was Daddy's birthday, so he got to join in the afternoon playgroup fun on Tuesday!

WEDNESDAY

We took a trip to Cagle's Dairy Farm with a group of friends. Owen loved it! Here he is looking at the chickens.

Sam wasn't so sure about the cows.

Owen was saying "Hi cow!"

Here's most of the crew on the hay ride.

Cute buddy, Garrick.

They let the kids plant cabbage in the garden.

For another take on our fun trip, go to www.mygrowinghome.com

THURSDAY

We met the Yoder's at East Cobb Park the next day. I LOVE spending time with Lindsey. We can juggle kids and have meaningful conversation in the mix of feeding kids lunch and dealing with toddler fits :)

I rarely remember my camera when I hang out with Lindsey, but this time I brought it and she ended up taking all the pics. This one turned out cute of me and my Owie.

Sam wanted to use the camera and he liked this one he took.

FRIDAY

We planned on going to a photo shoot for The Little Nook this morning, but Sam stuck his arm in his busy ball bouncer and it would not come out. I tried to let him work it out on his own so he wouldn't do it again, but I realized after 5 mins that it wasn't budging and he was starting to panic. I had to take the whole thing apart by unscrewing about 20 screws while he's freaking out. It was kind of funny after I knew he'd be ok, so I took his picture. We didn't make it to their modeling debut :)

This afternoon we came to Dublin to fish with some friends. They caught a lot this afternoon, so we had a fish fry tonight. Delightful! Michael just went back out for night fishing.

It's a...

GIRL!!!!
We set up an appointment at Stork Vision in Buckhead in January! Right after we found out we were expecting, I knew I would want to know if it was a boy or girl before everyone else. If it was a boy, I wanted the time to process the fact that I may never have a girl. I felt bad that I even cared, because I knew it was such a blessing that we were expecting another munchkin, but I just knew I would need the time to have the right perspective before everyone called me a boy mom.
Well, we went last Tuesday with the boys and the lady told us it was a girl! We saw her on the screen and heard her heartbeat. It was a really sweet moment for us. I teared up because I was so overwhelmed by God's goodness to us that we don't deserve. He gave us exactly what we wanted when we wanted it when it comes to our growing family. We said if we could choose, we would have 2 boys and then a girl. Every other baby would be bonus, and we would actually be excited about 5 kids. I just couldn't believe that our desires matched up with God's plan because it rarely works out that way, but it's always for our good. It's just overwhelming.
I hope we never stop being in awe of how God gave us a little girl. We both look forward to that relationship with her and watching her big brothers take care of her. I really am just over-the-top excited about all of this!