Praise and Projects

Praise:
God really has a way of showing us His faithfulness in ways we sometimes least expect. Jed and I spent a lot of time in prayer and discussion about what our lives and our family will look like when we add Baby J to the mix. Before we were married and before we found out about our little bundle of joy, we had always talked about how we really wanted me to be able to stay home with our kids and be able to raise them Biblically to the best of our ability. Both of our mom's made the sacrifice to stay home with us when we were young and we just found it to be so valuable to our childhood. We did a lot of number crunching and were realizing just how tight it was going to be every month. We had been thinking I would maybe sub a few days a month to make our budget a little easier to work with. A few weeks ago, Jed was presented with a job opportunity from a good friend of his who he used to work with. After looking into it, he applied and got a call for an interview that very afternoon. He was the only person they interviewed for the job and with his background and training from Nationwide, they hired him soon after! He is really excited for a new mission field and the ability to build new relationships with his new co-workers. We are also thankful that the Lord provided a salary increase that is just about exactly the amount we were planning on me making by subbing a few times a month. The timing of it all really caused us to be in awe of God's grace toward us and showed His favor of our decision and commitment to how we think He is leading us to raise our family.
Projects:
It seems with beanie baby arriving in 14-ish weeks, there are a lot of projects we have added to our "to-do" list around the house! Because Jed isn't starting his new job until May 2nd, he has had the last week and a half off work. He has been a HUGE help around the house and has started lots of projects - one being PURGING of junk in the basement, finally really clearing out the baby's room, making a compost bin for our garden and more. One project was a team effort -- We bought this dresser/changing table this winter on Craigslist and were just waiting to spruce it up. Jed and his friend Dylan sanded it down last week and I finished painting it over the weekend. The before and after is below ...
We are really excited to be getting the nursery put together. Beanie's crib is in there, unassembled and still needs to be painted, and my diaper bag is pictured above also. I had been trying to wait until school is over to really get to work in there once I have more time (however, I'm afraid I'll have less energy as I keep getting bigger and bigger!).
I was 26 weeks yesterday - every website you look at gives a little bit different information but here's what's going on with Baby J --
The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air. And he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches from head to heel.

I'm SO excited for this weekend to hurry up and get here! Tomorrow I have my next dr. appointment and then we are heading to Minnesota for the weekend. My family is throwing me a baby shower and Emily and Claire flew in for the weekend yesterday. I can't WAIT to see them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!